It is no secret to anyone that, application development is one of the technological market niches with the greatest future and that is due to its notable boom today. Well, for some years now, the growth of this area of the digital world has been excessive, both at the desktop level and also for mobile devices .
Now, every time a certain application is developed regardless of its type, it is very important to have the right tools that can assist developers during that process . Thus, these tools will allow them to save time and effort, and simultaneously guarantee absolute quality in the final result.
Hence, the great fame that has taken the SDK or the Software Development Kit , today, in the computer world. Since, it relieves a remarkable assistance in the programming of applications for a particular technological framework and that is why, in this post, we let you know what the SDK is about and much more information about interest.
Index:
What is the software development kit and what is it for ?
To begin with, we note that SDK refers to the acronym for “Software Development Kit” or the same as “Kit / Software Development Package” , the which can be defined as a set of tools that help people in the programming processes of applications of any kind.
In this sense, basically, a Computer Application Development Package consists of a virtual briefcase that contains everything required for experts and beginner application developers to prepare and work in a project, with complete quality. Thus, a mechanism that aims to unleash the imagination of developers today .
Likewise, it should be noted that, the SDKs are completely free and are distributed through the web; So they have become a modality widely used by developers who operate as collaborators, as well as by companies because they manage to display their products in a transparent and comprehensive way.
In short, the applications developed on the SDK will be designated to a specific operating system, a certain hardware platform, as well as for a special computer application package and even for a video game console as well. Thanks to that, there are many resources that an SDK can include .
How does the SDK license influence the type of software we want to perform?
Now, given that there are several free SDKs in the network that you can choose, you will surely be wondering: How does the Software Development Kit license intervene in the kind of program to be created?
Well, it is appropriate to highlight that one of the most valuable factors when choosing this package, is based on the type of license contained in the SDK . Since, if you use an SDK with a standard license, it will not be possible to develop open source programs from that virtual case that helps you during the development of applications or programs.
In addition to this, it should also be noted that, SDKs can add a computer application license that makes them incompatible to create software that is intended for an unsupported license. In other words, a proprietary Software Development Kit will be incompatible for the development of free software , most likely.
Also, an SDK under GPL license may be incompatible with the proprietary software development. However, the SDK under LGPL license is ideal for the development of such proprietary software.
What are the most important tools an SDK should have?
As we explained earlier, the Computer Application Development Kit contains everything necessary for developers to create an optimal application or an excellent program that shows great quality. However, although there are many resources you can host to provide them, the truth is that only some of them are the most important .
Then, then, its main features:
An application programming interface
Also known as “API” , refers to a conceptualization of the internal functioning of the environment on which you are going to work . In other words, as its name implies, it is about the abstraction of the interface you are going to develop.
In that sense, they are like a set of functions, data structures, classes, variables and routines that give you the ability to manipulate, in your own way, the platform mechanism without even knowing it internally , still.
An integrated development environment
It is known as “IDE” in the field of SDKs and is defined as an editor that helps you with everything you need to write the source code of the program, very easily . In addition to this, it usually also offers a friendly interface for two fundamental applications, which are:
- Compiler : It is responsible for translating the source code into machine language and thus, obtains an executable program.
- Debugger : It allows you to test the program during each step of its execution.
Sample code and other documentation
From this tool, you can start the development of the applications and of course, all the SDKs that you find on the web contain this resource in a mandatory way.
An emulator of the environment to develop
As the name implies, it is a tool with which you can know and observe how the end user views the application . That is, for example, if you create an application for a mobile operating system directly from your desktop computer, even on that different platform you can see the operation as if you did it from the mobile phone.
List of the most popular software development kit
To conclude with this informative post, it is also necessary to know which are the most popular and recognized Software Software Development Packages, as of today. So, below, we detail five of these with their main and most special features :
The Microsoft DirectX SDK
This is a kit developed by Microsoft in order to simplify the most complex tasks, linked to multimedia. In particular, the DirectX SDK is based on the programming of games and video, within the Microsoft Windows platform. Which, already has 12 versions and last update was in October 2018.
For its part, it should be noted that this famous SDK consists of the following application programming interfaces (API): Direct3D, DirectInput, Direct Graphics, DirectPlay, DirectMusic, DirectSound, DirectSetup, DirectML and DirectCompute, DirectX Raytracing.
Android SDK
This is the Android Development Kit, which serves to develop mobile apps on an emulator of the renowned Android operating system , taking into account that it will always be emulated in the Java computer language.
Among its most important hosted functions, we find an API (a clear example is REST API), as well as an IDE as a translator of the code into the machine language and also an emulator where you can see the direct result.
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In this sense, it is used to create applications for Android, mainly . Which, you can get it by downloading the ADT Bundle that does not need any configuration or, from the Eclipse page and by downloading the IDE there, you can add the ADT Android plugin. Taking into account that, the SDK even has helpful tutorials.
Source SDK
It is based on a tool or Software Development Kit designed by Valve Corporation , in which you can create mods and maps for Source engine games. In other words, this virtual briefcase has been specially installed for players who use the Source engine and, with it, easily, could create their own maps, modify faces or create them .
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In addition, the Source SDK also contains the resources necessary for its users to view models with its Face Poser and Model Viewer tool. It should be noted that, in order to create maps, usually uses the Valve Hammer Editor .
Turbo Pascal
Although currently discontinued, this SDK remains one of the most iconic in history. Which, refers to a computer application development system that adds an integrated development environment or IDE, in addition to a compiler; specifically for the famous Pascal programming language .
In that sense, Turbo Pascal was launched in 1983 for MS-DOS, CP / M and CP / M-86, to later be referred to Microsoft Windows and for many years, managed to be classified as the most extended version and with greater rise of the Pascal language . It should be noted that, it was led by Philippe Kahn and developed by Borland.
Microsoft .NET
It was developed by Microsoft and Xamarin , launched in 2002 and its latest stable version was known during this 2019. Thus, it consists of a framework that emphasizes network transparency and has hardware platform independence, so it facilitates efficient application development of any kind .
Being an SDK designed as a horizontal strategy by the company, where all its products could be introduced. That is, both the operating system and market tools and all this.
However, its main framework components are: the base class library ( BCL ), the common execution environment for languages ( CLR ) and the set of programming languages . Taking into account that,
some of the languages developed for the .NET scope of work are: C #, C ++, Visual Basic .NET, Delphi (Object Pascal), F #, J #, Perl, Python, Fortran, Prolog, Cobol and PowerBuilder.