Can I do Android programming in C++, C? If the answer is "yes" then please tell how? And what's the procedure to set up?
I don't know Obj-C, Java, but well-versed in C, C++, Flash AS3, SDK released by Google.
Please do not tell about NVDIA SDK it's not fully developed :)
PLEASE NOTE: THE ANSWER BELOW IS HORRIBLY OUTDATED, AND MIGHT NOT BE ENTIRELY CORRECT ANYMORE.
You can program in C/C++ using the Android NDK. You'll have to wrap your c++ codebase in a static library and load that through a Java wrapper & JNI.
The standard NDK does not support RTTI and a lot of the functionality of standard c++ is also not available such as std::string, etc. To solve this you can recompile the NDK. Dmitry Moskalchuk supplies a modified version of the NDK that supports this at http://www.crystax.net/android/ndk-r3.php. This modified version works on all Android phones that run on an ARM processor.
Depending on the kind of application you should decide to use Java or C/C++. I'd use C/C++ for anything that requires above average computational power and games -- Java for the rest.
Just pick one language and write the majority of your application in that language; JNI calls can decrease your performance by a lot. Java isn't that hard though -- if you know how to program in C/C++. The advantage of Java is that the application can run on any device running Android, where as NDK applications depend on the architecture it was compiled for.
You should use Android NDK to develop performance-critical portions of your apps in native code. See Android NDK.
Anyway i don't think it is the right way to develop an entire application.
Yes, you can program Android apps in C++ (for the most part), using the Native Development Kit (NDK), although Java is the primary/preferred language for programming Android, and your C++ code will likely have to interface with Java components, and you'll likely need to read and understand the documentation for Java components, as well. Therefore, I'd advise you to use Java unless you have some existing C++ code base that you need to port and that isn't practical to rewrite in Java.
Java is very similar to C++, I don't think you will have any problems picking it up... going from C++ to Java is incredibly easy; going from Java to C++ is a little more difficult, though not terrible. Java for C++ Programmers does a pretty good job at explaining the differences. Writing your Android code in Java will be more idiomatic and will also make the development process easier for you (as the tooling for the Java Android SDK is significantly better than the corresponding NDK tooling)
In terms of setup, Google provides the Android Studio IDE for both Java and C++ Android development (with Gradle as the build system), but you are free to use whatever IDE or build system you want so long as, under the hood, you are using the Android SDK / NDK to produce the final outputs.
You should look at MoSync too, MoSync gives you standard C/C++, easy-to-use well-documented APIs, and a full-featured Eclipse-based IDE. Its now a open sourced IDE still pretty cool but not maintained anymore.
You can take a look also at C++ Builder XE6, and XE7 supports android in c++ code, and with Firemonkey library.
http://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder
Pretty easy way to start, and native code. But the binaries have a big size.
You can use the Android NDK, but answers should note that the Android NDK app is not free to use and there's no clear open source route to programming Android on Android in an increasingly Android-driven market that began as open source, with Android developer support or the extensiveness of the NDK app, meaning you're looking at abandoning Android as any kind of first steps programming platform without payments.
Note: I consider subscription requests as payments under duress and this is a freemium context which continues to go undefeated by the open source community.
There is more than one library for working in C++ in Android programming:
C++ - qt (A Nokia product, also available as LGPL)
C++ - Wxwidget (Available as GPL)
Related
Hi im wondering how to execute a simple helloworld c or c++ program on a Android phone i googled it but i dont find any crystal clear working methods guys direct me in this....
You need to use Android NDK (Native Development Kit).
The NDK package also contains some demos you can compile and run.
This requires some perseverance on your part to figure this out.
As peoro has said, you need the Android NDK but that really is only the beginning. You will need to move your project relative to the Android NDK directory, mark up your code with the "native" keyword, create some make-files, use these to generate headers for the JNI (Java Native Interface) and then create accompanying cpp files into which you paste your code.
This is the outline.
Good instructions (i.e. that were good enough for me to succeed at this with C) are here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Native_Interface
http://blog.jayway.com/2010/01/25/boosting-android-performance-using-jni/
as well as the Android docs/Android NDK instructions themselves
http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/index.html
It is a pain to do this but if it saves you time overall/gains you critical performance then it is well worth it and very satisfying. On the other hand, if your code is fairly short and you're not after critical performance you are better off just translating it into Java. That's not hard.
Native exe!
that means my program can run easily without any requirement?
even if I use .net classes?
You know I want to write a program that is so light and I don't like to use C# or any other .net programing language because all of them need .net-framework 4.5.
Just think a 2.5 MB programm needs a +250 MB .netframework.
New Update - 12/01/2016:
It's almost 4 years ago when I asked this question. As you know Dotnet Native is announced. It's an interesting feature which compile IL into native code.
Compiling Apps with .NET Native
.NET Native is a precompilation technology for building and deploying
Windows apps that is included with Visual Studio 2015. It
automatically compiles the release version of apps that are written in
managed code (C# or Visual Basic) and that target the .NET Framework
and Windows 10 to native code. Typically, apps that target the .NET
Framework are compiled to intermediate language (IL). At run time, the
just-in-time (JIT) compiler translates the IL to native code. In
contrast, .NET Native compiles Windows apps directly to native code.
For developers, this means:
Your apps will provide the superior performance of native code.
You can continue to program in C# or Visual Basic.
You can continue to take advantage of the resources provided by the .NET Framework, including its class library, automatic memory
management and garbage collection, and exception handling.
Last I checked none of the .NET frameworks were 250+ MB! Yes, the offline installer for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is 231MB but it contains x86 and x64 versions of .NET 2, 3 and 3.5 sp1.
You should read this http://www.smallestdotnet.com for details on sizes of various versions of the installers.
Now on to your question:
Yes, It is a little annoying to have your clients install a big framework, even 20-40MB does get annoying. With .NET, the advantage is the ease of programming (In my opionion) compared to other Native options.
Your native options are:
MFC - You need only the VS runtimes installed, which is 1-2MB and is usually installed on newer pcs. Also, you can ship your application with the MFC libraries packaged into a dll which is again <2MB
The trade of here is you need to program in C++, the libraries overall are a very thin layer over the native libraries. and people have had harsh opinions about MFC. I've barely just tried it.
Win32 API - This is going all bare bones, and quite difficult, you could use C or C++ but you'd really have to know a lot about the Win32 API and how windows itself works (Stuff like windows messages, hwnds etc) Its not fun, believe me. But during deployment you would not need any external libraries.
There are tons more options, see here:
Native Windows Application Development Options
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2711599/what-programming-language-should-i-use-to-create-small-native-windows-applicatio
Here are some links on MFC that might help:
Want to learn Windows Programming,some suggestions?
How do I decide whether to use ATL, MFC, Win32 or CLR for a new C++ project?
C++ MFC vs .NET?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/557114/stick-with-mfc-or-go-to-net
you are able to create native exe by using c++ Win 32 projects.
Alas, nearly everything requires a download runtime library and even if you have one installed, you'll need to download updates for them almost continually. Even Microsoft C++ apps nowadays come with security updates that have to be installed if you've compiled your app with them.
But.. there is a solution of sorts. If you use C++, it has a feature where only the things you use are compiled into the final app. Normally, this would require linking with all the library dlls, but if you statically link with the library, you will end up with a single .exe that is as small as can be, and you will not need any dlls (as all the code contained in the library will be compiled into the .exe).
The benefits are debatable compared to dlls, but as MS has pretty much broken the idea of shared dlls in .NET (ie, you practically have to put all the shared dlls in the same directory as your running app, giving you a nightmare in maintenance if you have these shared dlls spread around all your apps) then there's not much of a difference anymore. Static linking is getting a little bit of a comeback and sounds like its what you want.
For modern C++ development, you'll probably want to take a look at Qt instead of MFC. Its a lot nicer to use and is cross-platform so you can run Qt apps on your Android or Linux platforms as well as Windows.
I have searched the web for information on creating GUIs(Games, Forms etc) in c++, I have found that OpenGL, Direct X and .Net framework can do this. The question I ask is which one is better to learn, what library for GUI in c++ is the most popular in industry. I know this is a newbie question, but if some on could lead me to the correct path it would be greatly appreciated.
OpenGL and DirectX are different to .Net framework. OpenGL and DirectX are for game development (Graphic acceleration) but .Net framework is for .Net development. If you use .Net framework then your program is not compiled to native code, it will be compiled to MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) then .Net translate it to Native code at run-time (for the first time).
If you want a GUI toolkit for your C++ program, Qt, MFC and wxWidgets are a good choice. Qt and wxWidgets are cross-platform libraries thus your program will be compiled on all platforms (Windows/Linux/Mac OS). But MFC is only available for Windows. Qt is more feature-rich than wxWidgets and maybe is a better choice.
I like QT myself.
Because you mentioned DirectX I'll assume your using windows, for that I would reccomend the basic Win32 API. If you want cross platform capabilities however, I would suggest Qt.
I have searched the web for information on creating GUIs(Games, Forms etc) in c++...
What would work fine for creating traditional form-based applications won't work so well for creating games, and vice versa.
You would be better off using C# with the .NET libraries as the C++ managed extensions can be a little cumbersome. If you must go with C++, then Qt and wxWidgets are both decent options, although you're more likely to find more help and online resources for QT.
If you need to do graphics like games, then you'd better off using a higher level library than directly using DirectX or OpenGL. Ogre3d is one option on the open source side, the C4 engine is an affordable option on the commercial side. If C# is an option, then might want to look at XNA and Unity3d.
I need to give an estimate for porting a standalone program to a Mac from a .NET platform. I have all the source code which is in C++ and is both code I wrote and a modified version of GLUT/GLUI because the program uses OpenGL and GLUT/GLUI as a UI.
I don't think the C++ code will be a problem or the OpenGL environment, please tell me if you think it will be. In .NET, I use OpenGL32.DLL and deploy it with my app. I need to find out how this is done for a Mac?
I really need to know what the current deployment method is for Mac's these days and how hard it will be for me to write for it. For .NET, I use Visual Studio for the application development and deployment, I make a new VS project to build the deployable MS installer.
The deployment process also allows things like placing a desktop shortcut, associate a unique icon with the program ... What deployment options can one select on a Mac? What do you think the biggest obstacles will be?
There's no .NET framework calls within the code. The deployment phase produces a .NET assembly with all the security features. I think that is the main relationship with .NET since it is straight C++ not C#.
Development should be rather straight-forward. You'll be able to do OpenGL/GLUT/etc... through the Cocoa framework. Look at this example from Apple to see how it is done in code.
As for development tools, you will be able to use Xcode (which is free with the Mac). You can develop in C++ and compile with GCC.
I work in a team of developers, one of us works specifically under Windows, and I work primarily in Mac OS X. We're wanting to develop C-based applications either in C++ or Objective-C however I'm not really knowledgeable in how to go about a cross-platform development project.
Is it viable to work in C++ using Mac OS X? Obviously they're geared towards Objective-C but is there just as much support for C++. What about cross-platform development in these languages? I'd use something like boost and some kind of UI library.
Has anyone got any experience in developing for multiple platforms yet allow applications to run natively without the need for a VM?
EDIT: There's a lot of answers I want to mark as correct now. It seems like Qt is the way to go and develop it in C++. Chances are this will be for *nix, OS X and Windows so that would be the best option for us personally. If I can avoid writing Objective-C so the team sticks to C++ then all the better. If I have to write the GUI in Objective-C and mix and match then that's not too much bother either.
I work for a software company that produces software for Mac OS X and Windows using C++, MFC, and Objective-C.
Yes, it is definitely possible.
You probably will be best served if you develop the "core" of the application in C++. In a MVC application, the C++ part would be the model, and possibly the controllers. For the code that interfaces to the GUI and other OS-specific interfaces, you should use the native APIs: Objective-C on Mac OS X and C# on Windows XP.
The good thing about the Mac is that you can compile C++ and Objective-C together. You can even have Objective-C++ where C++ and Objective-C are compiled in the same compilation unit. Unfortunately you cannot do this with C# (there is something called Managed C++ which is a different beast).
I would avoid cross-platform frameworks such as Qt and wxWidgets. They both allow you to develop cross-platform applications, but the look and feel of such applications is sub-par. I have more familiarity with wxWidgets though, its design is heavily geared towards the Windows MFC paradigm of application design.
Edit May 14, 2009, 9:44 AM EST: If Qt now allows true look and feel of the native platform, it could be a good option. I haven't looked at the latest offering so you may want to look at that framework before designing your own. That decision should be made after examining the results of the applications and how comfortable you are with the design paradigms that Qt requires.
You could look at Qt. I've used it successfully on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX projects.
what I use, is have a common library written in C or C++ with all the core functionality of your application.
Let's say you are building a solitaire game. So you will have core classes in a pure C++ (mostly platform independent) library.
CoreSolitaire
Then, you will have separate UI projects, one for each platform you want to deploy your solitaire on:
iSolitaire (Objective-C, MultiTouch Cocoa Based for iPhoneOS)
MacSolitaire (Objective-C, Cocoa Based for Mac OS X)
WinSolitaire (C++, Win32 or C# Based for Windows plaforms)
GSolitaire (C++, GNome/GTK based for linux/unix)
It's more work, but, in my opinion, the resulting product is definitely better than one you could get by using a platform independent widget set like QT or wxWidgets.
Having said this, if you are going to deploy your product internally in a company where you have full control of the deployment environment, and you don't care that much about how the resulting product will behave on different platforms, you could definitely use a common API for everything (QT, wxWidgets, or any other you might encounter).
Is it viable to work in C++ using Mac OS X? Obviously they're geared towards Objective-C but is there just as much support for C++.
Yes, there is.
You can do pretty much anything you want with C++ in OS X --anything that you could do with C++ on Linux, for example. There is support for the gcc's C++ compiler, c++ libraries, et all. Xcode provides support for working with C++.
You can even mix c++ with objective-C with Objective-C++ (Note, however, that this is not portable for GUI work).
What about cross-platform development in these languages? I'd use something like boost and some kind of UI library.
I believe that your best bet is QT.
It is a stable C++ library that is cross-platform (Windows, OSX, Linux and more), has been around for over a decade, is well supported, with many commercial apps written in it (Skype, Adobe Photoshop Album) and a ton of open source stuff written with it (the KDE desktop for starters). Besides GUI stuff it provides a whole lot more (container classes, xml, database connectivity, etc).
You can develop both Open Source and proprietary (closed source) apps for free with the latest QT, and the library was recently bought by NOKIA, a huge multinational, so it isn't going away any time soon.
Besides the library, QT also comes with an IDE and a Visual Forms Designer (all for free).
Other cross-platform GUI libraries for C++ also exist for OS X (wxWidgets, gtkmm, et al).
Has anyone got any experience in
developing for multiple platforms yet
allow applications to run natively
without the need for a VM?
Slightly. Make sure that you wrap around all the platform specific code.
That way you're main application or library doesn't need to reference the platform specific code. That should make it alot easier when porting to another platform.