Apache Cordova is an open-source mobile development framework that allows developers to build mobile applications using web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It enables the creation of cross-platform mobile apps with a single codebase, which can be deployed across multiple platforms like iOS, Android, Windows, and more.

• Single Codebase: Write your application code once and deploy it on multiple platforms.
• Platform Independence: Cordova abstracts the platform-specific details, allowing developers to focus on the app's functionality.

• HTML5: Used for structuring and presenting content.
• CSS3: Used for styling and layout.
• JavaScript: Used for application logic and interactivity.

• Core Plugins: Provide access to device capabilities like camera, GPS, and file system.
• Custom Plugins: Allow developers to extend Cordova's functionality by writing their own plugins.

• Embedded Browser: Cordova apps run inside a WebView, which is a browser instance embedded in a native application.
• Native Container: The WebView is wrapped in a native container, providing access to native device APIs.

Let's look at a simple example to understand how Cordova works. We'll create a basic Cordova project and explore its structure.

1. Install Cordova CLI:

   npm install -g cordova
   

   This command installs the Cordova Command Line Interface (CLI) globally on your system.

2. Create a New Cordova Project:

   cordova create myApp com.example.myapp MyApp
   

   This command creates a new Cordova project named MyApp with the package identifier com.example.myapp.

3. Add Platforms:

   cd myApp
   cordova platform add android
   cordova platform add ios
   

   These commands add Android and iOS platforms to your project.

4. Run the Project:

   cordova run android
   cordova run ios
   

   These commands build and run your project on the specified platforms.

After creating a Cordova project, you'll see the following structure:

• config.xml: Configuration file for your Cordova project.
• hooks/: Scripts that run at various stages of the Cordova build process.
• platforms/: Contains platform-specific code.
• plugins/: Contains installed plugins.
• www/: Contains the web assets (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) of your application.
• package.json: Contains metadata about your project and its dependencies.

In this section, we introduced Apache Cordova, a powerful framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using web technologies. We covered the key concepts, including cross-platform development, web technologies, plugins, and the WebView. We also provided a practical example to create a basic Cordova project and explored its structure.

In the next section, we will dive deeper into setting up your development environment to start building Cordova applications.