January 14th, 2008
Java vs. Android APIs
Google’s mobile phone platform, Android, supports a relatively large subset of the Java Standard Edition 5.0 library. Some things were left out because they simply didn’t make sense (like printing), and others because better APIs are available that are specific to Android (like user interfaces). This article lists what is and is not included.
[ Read: More coverage of Android ]
Supported
The following standard packages are supported in Android as of the latest release candidate. Consult the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 API documentation for information on how to use them.
- java.io - File and stream I/O
- java.lang (except java.lang.management) - Language and exception
- support
- java.math - Big numbers, rounding, precision
- java.net - Network I/O, URLs, sockets
- java.nio - File and channel I/O
- java.security - Authorization, certificates, public keys
- java.sql - Database interfaces
- java.text - Formatting, natural language, collation
- java.util (including java.util.concurrent) - Lists, maps, sets, arrays, collections
- javax.crypto - Ciphers, public keys
- javax.net - Socket factories, SSL
- javax.security (except javax.security.auth.kerberos, javax.security.auth.spi, and javax.security.sasl)
- javax.sound - Music and sound effects
- javax.sql (except javax.sql.rowset) - More database interfaces
- javax.xml.parsers - XML parsing
- org.w3c.dom (but not sub-packages) - DOM nodes and elements
- org.xml.sax - Simple API for XML
Not supported
These packages, normally a part of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition,
are not supported by Android.
- java.applet
- java.awt
- java.beans
- java.lang.management
- java.rmi
- javax.accessibility
- javax.activity
- javax.imageio
- javax.management
- javax.naming
- javax.print
- javax.rmi
- javax.security.auth.kerberos
- javax.security.auth.spi
- javax.security.sasl
- javax.swing
- javax.transaction
- javax.xml (except javax.xml.parsers)
- org.ietf.*
- org.omg.*
- org.w3c.dom.* (sub-packages)
Third party libraries
In addition to the standard libraries listed above, The Android SDK
comes with a number of third-party libraries for your convenience.
- org.apache.commons.codec - Utilities for encoding and decoding
- org.apache.commons.httpclient - HTTP authentication, cookies, methods, and protocol
- org.bluez - Bluetooth support
- org.json - JavaScript Object Notation
Ed Burnette is a professional developer and author of several articles and books about computing including Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform, 2nd Edition. For disclosure of Ed's industry affiliations, click here or to view his full profile click here.
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