<s>
An	O
Intent	O
in	O
the	O
Android	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
is	O
a	O
software	O
mechanism	O
that	O
allows	O
users	O
to	O
coordinate	O
the	O
functions	O
of	O
different	O
activities	O
to	O
achieve	O
a	O
task	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
Intent	O
is	O
a	O
messaging	O
object	O
which	O
provides	O
a	O
facility	O
for	O
performing	O
late	O
runtime	O
binding	O
between	O
the	O
code	O
in	O
different	O
applications	O
in	O
the	O
Android	B-Application
development	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
most	O
significant	O
use	O
is	O
in	O
the	O
launching	O
of	O
activities	O
,	O
where	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
thought	O
of	O
as	O
the	O
glue	O
between	O
activities	O
:	O
Intents	O
provide	O
an	O
inter-application	O
messaging	O
system	O
that	O
encourages	O
collaboration	O
and	O
component	B-General_Concept
reuse	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
Intent	O
is	O
basically	O
a	O
passive	B-Language
data	I-Language
structure	I-Language
holding	O
an	O
abstract	O
description	O
of	O
an	O
action	O
to	O
be	O
performed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
concept	O
was	O
not	O
new	O
,	O
the	O
Android	B-Application
architecture	O
does	O
n't	O
require	O
elevated	O
privileges	O
to	O
access	O
the	O
components	O
,	O
which	O
makes	O
it	O
an	O
open	B-Application
platform	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Activities	O
in	O
Android	B-Application
are	O
defined	O
as	O
classes	O
that	O
control	O
the	O
life	O
cycle	O
of	O
a	O
task	O
in	O
the	O
user	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
