Google Releases App Inventor for Android
Build apps for your mobile phone from your browser with Google's creation suite.
Google announced the App Inventor beta, a web-based, visual programming suite designed to create custom apps for Android-powered phones.
The App Inventor uses only visual cues and drop-down options to allow users to create action trees, add custom buttons, and access phone-specific features. App Inventor also communicates with other websites like Twitter or Facebook.
The blocks editor, which is used to stack actions within App Inventor, uses Open Blokcs Java library. Open blocks visual programming shares commonality with the Scratch programming library. The Kawa Language Framework is the compiler used to implement the language on Android. Those familiar with the Free Software Foundation will recognize the Kawa dialect of the Scheme programming language s part of Gnu.
Currently, App Inventor is available on an invite-only basis. Once admitted, it's possible to view tutorials and begin creating apps. It's also possible to connect an Android phone to a computer and immediately upload the created app for testing.
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