Android NDK
The Android Native Development Kit (NDK) is a set of tools that allows developers to implement parts of their Android applications using native-code languages such as C and C++. It provides libraries and headers for building native activities, handling Android lifecycle events, and accessing platform APIs, enabling performance-critical code or reuse of existing C/C++ libraries.
Developers should use the Android NDK when they need to optimize performance for compute-intensive tasks like gaming, physics simulations, or image processing, or when integrating existing C/C++ codebases into Android apps. It's also essential for accessing low-level system features or hardware that aren't fully exposed through the Java-based Android SDK, such as certain sensors or audio processing.