Android Libraries

The following list of core APIs
should provide an insight into what’s available; all Android devices will offer support for at least
these APIs:
❑ android.util The core utility package contains low-level classes like specialized containers,
string formatters, and XML parsing utilities.
❑ android.os The operating system package provides access to basic operating system services
like message passing, interprocess communication, clock functions, and debugging.
❑ android.graphics The graphics API supplies the low-level graphics classes that support canvases,
colors, and drawing primitives, and lets you draw on canvases.
❑ android.text The text processing tools for displaying and parsing text.
❑ android.database Supplies the low-level classes required for handling cursors when working
with databases.
❑ android.content The content API is used to manage data access and publishing by providing
services for dealing with resources, content providers, and packages.
❑ android.view Views are the core user interface class. All user interface elements are constructed
using a series of Views to provide the user interaction components.
❑ android.widget Built on the View package, the widget classes are the “here’s one we created
earlier” user-interface elements for you to use in your applications. They include lists, buttons,
and layouts.
❑ com.google.android.maps A high-level API that provides access to native map controls that
you can use within your application. Includes the MapView control as well as the Overlay and
MapController classes used to annotate and control your embedded maps.

❑ android.app A high-level package that provides access to the application model. The application
package includes the Activity and Service APIs that form the basis for all your Android
applications.
❑ android.provider To ease developer access to certain standard Content Providers (such as the
contacts database), the Provider package offers classes to provide access to standard databases
included in all Android distributions.
❑ android.telephony The telephony APIs give you the ability to directly interact with the device’s
phone stack, letting you make, receive, and monitor phone calls, phone status, and SMS messages.
❑ android.webkit The WebKit package features APIs for working with Web-based content,
including a WebView control for embedding browsers in your activities and a cookie manager.
In addition to the Android APIs, the Android stack includes a set of C/C++ libraries that are exposed
through the application framework. These libraries include:
❑ OpenGL The library used to support 3D graphics based on the Open GL ES 1.0 API
❑ FreeType Support for bitmap and vector font rendering
❑ SGL The core library used to provide a 2D graphics engine
❑ libc The standard C library optimized for Linux-based embedded devices
❑ SQLite The lightweight relation database engine used to store application data
❑ SSL Support for using the Secure Sockets Layer cryptographic protocol for secure Internet
communications