Until recently, Android developers had to choose between lousy options when writing their apps:
- Use APIs from the latest OS release. Don't support earlier releases.
- Support earlier releases. Don't use APIs from the latest OS release.
- Use reflection and conditional code to use the latest APIs while also supporting earlier releases. This yields the best app, but it's a lot of work and requires a lot of testing.
A big step forward was the Android Support Library, which backports APIs from the latest release and makes them available everywhere. It makes it possible to use core UI patterns like fragments even in older phones.
The support package doesn't cover much of the platform. But rather than complaining about fragmentation, Jake Wharton did something about it.
Jake's the author of several brilliant new Android libraries that make new APIs available for older devices:
He even backported the DiskLruCache so that Craig Andrews had it for his HTTP response cache backport. Now you don't need Android 4.0 to get response caching!
These libraries make it easy to write Android apps that look great on new hotness (like the Nexus Galaxy) and also on old favorites (like the HTC Incredible).
Jake's a force of nature. Working with him is one of the many perks I'm enjoying at Square. Join us!
