Welcome to Android
Eclipse and Android Studio are the two supported integrated development environments (IDEs) for Android development, and you need only one to follow along with the examples in this book. There are, however, a few other tools you should be aware of that will be very useful now and in your future work with Android. While you may not use all these tools until you’re getting ready to ship an application, it will be helpful to know about them when the need arises.
Eclipse (ADT Bundle)
Eclipse was the first publicly available IDE for Android and has been in use since 2008. Previous iterations required a complicated setup process that involved downloading multiple pieces and duct-taping them together. Now, with the debut of ADT Bundle, the process is much easier. Everything you need to build an Android application in Eclipse is in one convenient bundle, preconfigured to get you up and running in under five minutes.
Android Studio
A spinoff of the popular Java IDE Intellij, Android Studio is Google’s newest solution to many of our Android development woes. With Android Studio, Android receives a new unified build system, Gradle, which is fully integrated to allow the utmost flexibility in your development process. It may be a little rough around the edges, and it may take a little extra elbow grease, but you’ll find that the time invested will pay off in the long run.
Android SDK
The Android SDK contains all the tools you’ll need to develop Android applications from the command line, as well as other tools that will help you find and diagnose problems and streamline your applications. Whether you use Eclipse or Android Studio, the Android SDK comes preconfigured and is identical for both IDEs.
Android SDK Manager
The Android SDK Manager (found within the SDK tools/ directory) will help you pull down all versions of the SDK, as well as a plethora of tools, third-party add-ons, and all things Android. This will be the primary way in which you get new software from Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Android Virtual Device Manager
Android Virtual Device Manager is for those developers who prefer to develop on an emulator rather than an actual device. It’s a little slow, but you can run an Android emulator for any version of Android, at any screen size. It’s perfect for testing screen sizes, screen density, and operating system versions across a plethora of configurations.
Hierarchy Viewer
This tool will help you track the complex connections between your layouts and views as you build and debug your applications. This viewer can be indispensable when tracking down those hard-to-understand layout issues. You can find this tool in the SDK tools/ directory as hierarchyviewer.
Monitor
Also known as DDMS (Dalvik Debug Monitor Server), Monitor is your primary way to interface with and debug Android devices. You’ll find it in the tools/ directory inside the Android SDK. It does everything from gathering logs, sending mock text messages or locations, and mapping memory allocations to taking screenshots. This tool is very much the Swiss Army knife of your Android toolkit. Along with being a standalone application, both Eclipse and Android Studio users can access this tool from directly within their programs.
Gradle
This is the new build system in Android Studio. The beauty of Gradle is that whether you press “Build” from within the IDE or build from the command line, you are building with the same system. For general use, there aren’t many commands you will need to know, but I cover basic and advanced Gradle usage at the end of the book.