Internet Protocol Suite Overview

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Android Release and Device Support Summary

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Below is a summary of Android releases and device support.  It shows that by using the  Android Support Libraries you can code your apps to run on a large percentage of Android devices.

For more information on the compatibility Support Libraries see: ​http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/support-library.html 

For more information on Device Support see: http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

Android WebView Combines Native and HTML5 Code

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A battle is raging over whether native mobile code apps, such as those for Android and iOS, are a better approach than using HTML5.  Each has its advantages.​

There is, though, a way to blend the two in order to take advantages of the benefits each has to offer.  The graphic below shows the anatomy of an app that displays an HTML5 Canvas on an Android screen display.

This app is from the Learning Android App Programming video training course.​

The HTML5 Canvas animation displayed is from HTML5 Canvas for Dummies.​

You can see the HTML5 Canvas animation by clicking here. ​To see the JavaScript code that generates the animation, right click on the display page and select View Source Code.

Android/PHP/JQuery RESTful JSON MySQL Client-Server Overview

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The title of this blog entry is quite a mouthful.  The purpose is to give a broad overview of the moving parts necessary to implement an application with client mobile and desktop devices that interact with a server database to alter and retrieve data.

I won't define all the classes, methods and acronyms on the graphic as they're easy to look up using an Internet search.  There are other choices that can be made for the details of the implementation, but this should provide a starting point for thinking through the necessary elements.

The communication vehicle for client-server interaction is typically the Internet Protocol Suite.

 

SQL Database Join Operations

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It can be challenging to remember the details of all the SQL Join operations.  A convenient way to do this is to use Venn diagrams shown below. For examples of SQL Joins, go here. 

Commonly used SQL Join operations are:

  • inner join: requires each record in the two joined tables to have matching records.
  • outer join: does not require each record in the two joined tables to have a matching record.

Using Randomized Variable Values to Enhance HTML5 Canvas Animations

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The HTML5 Canvas feature is bringing additional animation power to web pages.​  HTML5 Canvas allows web developers to embed sophisticated bit map animated graphics directly into web pages. 

In developing examples for my book on HTML5 Canvas (HTML5 Canvas for Dummies)​ I experimented with using randomized variable values to improve the realism of an animated fireworks display. I used random values within specified ranges for parameters such as fireworks colors, number of exploding particles, trajectory of particles, lifespan of particles and flight trajectories. I found that adding well constructed values (not too much or too little randomization) significantly increased the realism and appeal of the results.  Here's one example from the Fireworks app of setting a randomized value:​

     part[newPart].life = lifeMin +(Math.random()*(lifeMax-lifeMin));

See what you think ... click here to see it in action.

HTML5 vs. Native App Development

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As you're likely aware, there's a big debate going on about whether HTML5 web sites are a better platform for mobile apps than native code development using Android, iOS and Windows.

The main selling point for HTML5 is the write-once-run-anywhere advantage. Web browsers on mobile devices can access web sites from any mobile platform. HTML5 is providing features that allow web page JavaScript code to access phone features like devices sensors and geo positioning. In theory, a well constructed HTML5 web page will look and perform like a mobile device native code app.

However, currently not all device features are available to HTML5 JavaScript code and native code apps have a performance advantage over HTML5 web pages viewed using a browser. Native code apps are presently the dominant choice among developers.

In HTML5's corner, though, the technology is improving and web browsers are ramping up their implementation of HTML5 features. Life would certainly be simpler for mobile developers if they could develop for only one platform, HTML5, instead of multiple native platforms.

Longer term, HTML5 will certainly continue to get better. But so will native platforms. In fact, native platforms may improve more rapidly than HTML5. HTML5 is a global standard developed by the W3C. It takes years of effort to change the standard and have these changes adopted by the various browsers. The individual native platforms (Android, iOS, Windows) can change as quickly as their developers (Google, Apple and Microsoft) want them to. So will HTML5 ever catch up?

Maybe not. Google, Apple and Microsoft have lots of developers and big budgets. They want their products to be competitive ... and that means constant improvements.

So, what's likely to happen? In my opinion, we'll have a blend of the two. In fact, this is taking place today. Native code platforms have Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that support displaying web pages from within native code apps. Developers can use native code for what it does best and HTML5 web pages for what they do best. The exact mix will shift over time as all the platforms change and improve. 

For developers, this means that separate native code platforms will likely continue to exist. Write-once-run-anywhere will remain an elusive goal probably not realized for a long time, if ever. This doesn't mean that development costs can't be managed or reduced. HTML5 web pages can be developed and used by native code apps where appropriate. Functions specific to those pages can be write-once-run-anywhere. This may not be an optimal solution, but it's the game on the ground.

Smartphone Website with Laptop 2.png

WebPlatform.org: A Resource for Web Development

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WebPlatform.org is a new organization and collection of websites that will provide open source resources for web development. It will cover topics such as HTML5, Canvas, SVG, Video, Animations, IndexedDB, CSS, WebGL, Transforms, Audio, Media Queries and FileAPI.

Which is the Best Browser

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An analysis of Internet browsers by Top Ten Reviews places Google Chrome at the head of the list. The analysis shows, however, that it's a real horse race between the top five: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. Here are some of my observations based on this analysis and personal tests and experience:

Change after new releases: All of the browser developers are working hard to improve their products. With each new browser version release, the competitive landscape can change. For example, Internet Explorer had recently lagged in speed due to the lack of graphics hardware acceleration. Based on my tests, they're now the fastest running HTML5 Canvas animations.

Graphics hardware acceleration: GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) hardware acceleration is an important factor in browser speed. A browser displaying video or animation with GPU acceleration will outperform a browser without it by a factor of 3-4. That's right, 300-400%. A computer using just the CPU to manipulate graphics displays simply can't keep up with one using the combination of CPU and GPU. Hardware acceleration is a fairly complex topic. Basically, the browser offloads calculations from the CPU to the GPU. If you're interesting in some of the details, take a look at this discussion of hardware acceleration from the Chromium Projects.

Mobile lags desktop: Especially in speed, the mobile browsers lag desktop versions. Mobile devices simply don't have the computing power to match desktop devices. 

HTML5 Status

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HTML5 Logo.png

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced that a final recommendation for HTML 5.0 will be released in the 4th quarter of 2014. In spite of the "recommendation" terminology that W3C uses, this is official release of HTML5. This is a big deal and great news. Browser developers will have a firm definition of HTML5 they can use to bring their products up to a complete level of support for this latest version of HTML.

W3C has also defined the follow-on version, HTML 5.1, to be released in the 4th quarter of 2016. This release will include features that have been pushed out in order to get release 5.0 completed in 2014. Without this stragegy, W3C was looking at an indefinite specification development timeframe. 

Browser developers are not waiting for 2014 to begin implementation of HTML5. You can use www.html5test.com to check the status of your browser to see which features are supported and www.caniuse.com for a summary of the status of support by all the major browsers.

What's Up with HTML5?

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HTML5 is the first major update to the HTML standard since HTML4 was standardized in 1994. Full approval by standards bodies and complete implementation may take another decade, but parts of HTML5 are already being implemented.

Each browser supports HTML5 to a different degree. The www.html5test.com website can be used to test the extent to which a browser currently supports HTML5. 

The screens to the right were taken from a test of a Droid X running Android version 2.3.3. It scored 177 points out of a total of 450. As is evident from this test, smartphone browsers are not very far along in implementing HTML5 features. The lower screen to the right shows the status of some desktop browsers.

Possibly the most well known of the HTML5 features is the new tag that will avoid the need for Flash in playing videos. This is especially important now that Adobe has announced it will stop development of Flash for mobile devices.

HTML5 contains many new features. A number of these are focused on eliminating the need for proprietary plugins and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs.) This advances the idea of being able to develop applications that will run on any device that supports HTML5, including multiple smartphone, tablet and desktop brands.