Android Studio Guide by Deekay

Beginner Glossary

Android Studio: The official IDE used to build Android apps.
IDE: A coding program with editor, build, run, and debug tools.
Kotlin: The recommended language for modern Android development.
Jetpack Compose: Modern Android UI toolkit where you build screens using Kotlin functions.
Composable: A function that draws part of the UI in Compose.
State: Data that can change and cause the UI to update.
Activity: A main app screen or entry point. Most first apps start with MainActivity.
Manifest: AndroidManifest.xml; declares app components, permissions, and launcher screen.
Gradle: Build system that compiles your app and downloads dependencies.
Dependency: External library your app uses.
SDK: Software Development Kit; Android tools and platform files.
API level: Android platform version number used for compatibility.
Emulator: A virtual Android phone on your laptop.
ADB: Android Debug Bridge; tool that lets Android Studio talk to a device.
Logcat: Android logs where crashes and messages appear.
APK: Installable Android app package for testing.
AAB: Android App Bundle, usually used for Play Store release.
Debug build: A testing build with debugging enabled.
Release build: A production build that must be signed.
Permission: User/device access request such as camera, location, storage, notifications.
Repository: In architecture, a class that manages app data sources.
ViewModel: Holds UI state and survives configuration changes.
