Question: I am new to Java and Android programming. The issue that I am having is that after surfing several books, forum and websites, I do not have clear understanding of what the @override annotation does. I understand it signifies when a method is being over ridden. but why is it needed in android. I see it rarely in source code for java, but all the time in android.

Answer: 
because you override a lot of methods , example ;when you create your `Activity` ( which extends `Activity` ) you need to override the method `onCreate( Bundle savedInstanceState)` to initialize your `Activity` , and so on , **every time you override a method from a mother Class , eclipse add the annotation** `@override`
`@override` means you are borrowing methods from available class and are not defined by the programmer.