Once upon a time, mobile phones were used to make calls on the go.  Nowadays, our smart devices are so sophisticated, they are a necessity in our daily lives.  As our smart devices become “smarter” and “smarter,” the more essential they are becoming for companies as well.  Not only are they making the lives of individuals easier, but they are also helping businesses conduct deals and transactions efficiently to meet the demands of their global customers.  Many companies are now turning their attention to improving the quality of their accessible applications to find consumers and create a lasting customer relationship with them.

    New advancements in application frameworks and libraries are made almost daily, allowing application development across platforms.  The purpose of this article is to discuss frameworks and libraries for Android apps and to review their advantages and disadvantages.  This will help you decide which technology you should use to build your application.

FRAMEWORKS

A framework is a platform for developing application software.  It is the set of APIs that gives app developers a platform to build programs easily and quickly.  A framework includes software tools, such as buttons, text fields to create user interfaces.  It also includes machine tools such as intents, media players, and media players.

 1). IONIC

 Ionic is an MIT certified platform.  It is free and is an open-source UI software with a library of modern web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.  It is perfect for programmers that are looking to create apps that are hybrid and engaging.  Out of all the android framework, this one is the most developer-friendly.  It provides you with a wide range of features, gestures, and animations that assist you in creating fine quality PWAs  (Progressive Web Apps) for both mobile and desktop devices using a single code.

Advantages:

-It is a hybrid app so it is faster to launch

-It can be built in android and iOS simultaneously with a single code

-Most of the app can be built in browser

Disadvantages:

-It may be difficult to debug

 -It can crash unexpectedly at any given time

-It utilizes live reloading

-Native apps aren’t as efficient and don’t perform as well

 2).FLUTTER

Like the Ionic, it is a free and open-source Ui software development kit.  Flutter has been developed by Google to create apps in a unique way.  It allows developers to test and execute  UI with no failures.  It features a hot reload function so you don’t need to restart the app because it tests continually.  Since it has a single codebase, it allows app developers to successfully test, execute UI, unit, and functionality.  Some apps include a screen reader, a more compact development cycle, better execution, and covers both iOS and android platforms.

Advantages: 

-It is free and open source.

-It is based on Dart-a so it’s easy to learn.

-It is independent of platforms because it provides its own widgets and designs.

-It’s single code base covers both iOS and android platforms.

Disadvantages:

-Developers must create the library which can be quite long.

– The app must be 4MB or larger.

-It is only mobile friendly, so it can’t be supported by website browsers.

 3).  XAMARIN

 Xamarin is ideal for company’s searching for time and cost-efficient software.  It is also a free and open-source mobile app platform.  It allows developers to build native iOS and Android apps, Windows, and Mac apps using a single shared C# or XAML codebase.  Xamarin provides a comfortable development environment with an abstraction layer that controls shared application communication with its underlying technology.

Advantages

-Its single code is usable everywhere.

-It is fully supported by Microsoft.

-It can be marketed faster since one code is used for all devices.

-It has a visual studio app center that allows its users to know when it crashes.

Disadvantages:

-It has huge operational software overheads

-The user interface development is time consuming.

-It is not considered appropriate for the development of games

 4).  REACT NATIVE

React native, operated by hybrid design and cross-platform support, is the most popular android framework used by both developers and consumers.  It is built on react native platforms so it responds quicker than apps developed on any other platform.  The android and iOS can be written on a single code.

Advantages:

– It has a common API for developing apps

-It uses UI libraries instead of HTML or CSS

-It reacts from a primary Ui branch so usually, it doesn’t have problems performing

-Developers can share their resources and knowledge of the code.

Disadvantages:

-The existing documentation is insufficient, especially for combining with additional sources.\

– Developers have to deal with hot reloading errors, as well as with react-navigation and simulator problems.

– It provides limited third party components.

 5). CORONA SDK

Corona SDK, a cross-platform framework, is best used for developing apps and games for both smart devices and computers.  It uses a Lua-based framework, has an easy to learn scripting language, a large array of plug-ins, native Corona extensions, and over a thousand built-in APIs.

Advantages:

 -It is free with no hidden costs.

-Simple to build platforms for all smart devices

– It is designed very efficiently because it uses OpenGL graphics and LUA’s scripting ability.

-Can execute complex system size layouts.

Disadvantages:

-It is hard to debug.

-You have to use native device version for keyboard, handset, etc.

-LUA syntax is hard to interpret, even for professionals.

-It’s Facebook API configuration is confusing because you don’t know which version of the graph to use.

 6).  APPCELERATOR TITANIUM

With Appcelerator Titanium, you don’t need to learn Java or Objective-C.  It allows you to create native apps using HTML, Javascript, and CSS.  Its apps perform as well as apps that use native APIs and support systems (i.e. Android, Blackberry, and Windows).     

Advantages:

-Open source and free SDK

-Its resourceful code module scales the extra code.

-It offers a varied output for the native UI.

-Offers a wide neutralization of the UI.

Disadvantages:

-The more complicated the app, the more prone it is to bugs and technological problems such as odd behaviors and sudden failures.

 -It can have SDK related issues.

-The SDK should be managed locally on platforms.

-It can get buggy.

 In choosing the correct android framework, you should recognize the correct specific requirements your app needs to create an app that is best suited to represent your company.  Some of these include source code, message templates, classes, values, documents, and much more.

 

 

                                              LIBRARIES

      An android library is used to add a specific feature or solve a specific problem . Libraries consist of well coded simple programs and provide a well-defined interface. Some of these include source code, message templates, classes, values, documents and much more.

      Please note that there is a difference between an API and a library.  An API refers to the interface while the library refers to the code.  We can combine several libraries to make an API to  complete a particular action, but a library on its own is not an API. It is a collection of useful methods or functions.

 

 

 

 

1).  RETROFIT

 

    Retrofit is a secure HTTP app and easy to use.  It has many features such as file uploads, headers, query parameters and many more of the API requests.  It enables the REST API to be specified as an interface.  Retrofit can configure which converter is used for data serialization.

 

2). GLIDE

   

     Even though Glide  features functions like fetching, decoding, and displaying video calls, it’s best feature is giving GIF support while allowing the images to load.  Since HttpUrl connection is the default stack, it provides an advanced API that can be plugged in any network stack .Its main objective is to make sure that the scroll process is as easy as possible for any number of images.

 

3).  DAGGER

 

     Dagger is probably the safest of all dependency injection libraries.  It uses Dependency injection to insert a smaller element into a larger one as efficiently as possible.  Dagger allows you to build simple Java source code.  It distinguishes itself through compiling time to estimate and evaluate dependencies and is probably the best in comparison to other smaller libraries that rely on XML.

 

4).  BUTTERKNIFE

      

    Butterknife, a view binding library, allows you to quickly allocate ids to views, in doing so avoiding excessive findViewByid.  Although Butterknife and Dagger seem to have similar annotations.  The difference between the two is that in Butterknife, annotations are used to produce boilerplate code.

 

5).  ROOM

 

  Room persistent  library is the official ORM library. It allows you to create offline apps and lets you quickly and easily create and manipulate SQLITE databases such as Java objects while  holding an abstraction layer over it.  It offers support for Rx and is very compatible  with it.  Room uses simple SQL syntax and annotations so it’s easier to understand than the other ORMs that use complicated APIs.

 

     Now you know how these libraries work and what features each has. It’s up to you to choose which libraries best suit your applications and will give it the performance .

 

 

   In conclusion, the most crucial factors in creating a perfect application are using the correct application development frameworks and libraries. Before creating your app,  it is recommended you look deeper into each framework and library and see what works for you.  You might need the help of a professional android developer.  If you would like to ask a question , Make a suggestion or leave a comment, please do so in the comment section.