4

Is there a way to develop android applications on the devices themselves? If I want to write some code for a linux machine I usually do that on a linux machine. It would be nice to develop android applications on the device (say a Nexus S) (type the code) and then build, compile and test them on the device themselves. Can this be done?

Sriram
  • 10,298
  • 21
  • 83
  • 136
  • do you want to delevop on device OR just test the code on the code on the device rather than using the SDK emulators? – Bruce Sep 23 '11 at 10:23
  • @Bruce: develop on the device. of course, if i develop on the device, then my instinct would also be to test on the device... – Sriram Sep 23 '11 at 10:25
  • In this case your instinct is wrong! You can develop your app on a PC and then test using the emulators AND also on a physical device. But I cannot understand your desire to develop on the device. – Bruce Sep 23 '11 at 10:50
  • @Bruce: thanks for the strong comments. I know that I can develop on a PC and test it on an emulator + physical device. I did not post this question so people may understand my **desires**, i just wanted to know if it was possible or if anyone was aware of any such solution. thanks! – Sriram Sep 23 '11 at 11:11

2 Answers2

2

You mention testing 'on the device themselves'. Practically speaking, the emulators supplied with the SDK function in exactly the same way as the physical devices. It also means that you essentially have access to all of the devices the emulator supports, not just the phone/tablet you own or have access to.

As for a device-based IDE (if that is what you're after), I haven't seen anything beyond a couple of WP7 proof-of-concepts.

Alex
  • 2,681
  • 3
  • 28
  • 43
  • a device-based IDE was what I was mainly talking about. i thought it would be nice to write code on the device and then test it out (on the same device) too.. – Sriram Sep 23 '11 at 10:26
  • 2
    @Sriram I think that after spending a few hours typing and coding on a virtual keyboard in an IDE that is necessarily under-powered due to the device's limitations you'll be glad to move back to PC-based development ;) – Alex Sep 23 '11 at 12:23
  • @Alex: Yes. That might be an issue. I agree. But which IDE can I use? Is there one that can be used (can you mention the prototypes)? – Sriram Sep 23 '11 at 12:57
  • 1
    @Sriram this is what I was thinking of: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/touchdevelop/ But as I said, it's for Windows Phone, and it certainly isn't traditional programming, more of a simple scripting mechanism to interact with existing features and data (a given example is searching your music collection and then posting the results to your Facebook profile). – Alex Sep 23 '11 at 13:13
1

There is an IDE to develop Android apps in Android devices recently launched: AIDE - Android IDE - Java, C++

JGrinon
  • 1,453
  • 1
  • 14
  • 36
Jose_GD
  • 2,279
  • 1
  • 21
  • 34