Android SDK Install & Recommendations.

[NextGen1]

Android SDK

What is the Android/Android SDK?

URL Source: "https://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
URL Documentation from source.

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.

When dealing with Open Source Mobile OS(s) SDKs and/or any Open Source Project, I strongly recommend you not only learn the SDK (generally speaking) and their APIs (specifically speaking), But you learn what you are working with, and to do so, you can download the Android OS Source Code from Downloading the Source Tree | Android Open Source (detailed instructions can be found on page)

But downloading & studying the source you will have a better idea of what you are actually doing and what you are working with when dealing with the SDK/APIs.

Android SDK can be download from - Android SDK | Android Developers

Before installing Android SDK you will need to complete some pre-requisites.

1. Download & Install Java (latest version) - Download Free Java Software
2. Download & Install Java SDK (Latest Version)
3. Download & Install Eclipse IDE (Or Netbeans/Favorite Java IDE)
Some IDE Download Links -

Eclipse - The Eclipse Foundation open source community website.
Welcome to NetBeans
IntelliJ IDEA :: The Best Java IDE Now Free and Open Source

(from personal experience, I strongly recommend Eclipse IDE over others, I originally favored NetBeans for Java in General, but I came across some small (but annoying) issues while using netbeans with Android/Facebook SDK)

After you have completed the 3 steps above, you can Install Android SDK, Upon completion you have to do some basic setup to begin development.

After the SDK has finished installing you should have (2+) Managers (though there are many small utilities, we will focus on two for now)

Look for your android sdk directory (Default location is \Program Files\Android\android-sdk\ ). Inside the directory you should see a AVD Manager (which we will talk about in a minute) & the SDK Manager.

For now, Start the SDK Manager (naturally, by double clicking the application), When SDK Manager loads you will need to (again) install (download) some more important component(s).



My recommended installs:

1. Android Tools

Android SDK Tools
Android SDK Platform-Tools

2. Android 2.1 (API7)

SDK Platform

3. Extras

Google USB Driver manager.

That should be all you really need to start, Let me explain why I chose these as my recommended installs.

~Android SDK Tools & Android SDK Platform-Tools are needed for the SDK to function properly.

~Android 2.1 (API7)
- Here's where the reasoning becomes somewhat more complex.

Android 2.1 (according to API Levels and Android's personal analytic is the most used Android Version & the OS on the most devices. So logically speaking it would make sense (if you want the largest amount of potential users) that you would develop on the most used version of android OS.

The other reason is - Android OS is forward compatible, meaning - If you develop for Android 2.1 (API7) and a user with Android 4.0 downloads this application, it will (in 99% of conditions) function properly on that device (though resolution and screen size can be a factor). However if you do that in reverse & develop a Android application for OS V 4.0 and attempt to run it on 2.1 OS , the application will crash / Fail / Not function properly (depending on API calls) .

So in the long run it makes sense to use the earliest most popular version of the OS. I don't recommend Versions 2.0 or < at all, those OSs fall on less then 1% of devices and a lot of the API calls have been depreciated since then, so you may run into issues running 2.0 or less on a newer OS even with the forward compatibility.

That is it for this "article"
Next Article: Best Option for Emulating Android OS & other Options.


Added LinkBack to my original article location: https://www.mpgh.net/forum/511-androi...ml#post5794677

[Hassan]

This is nice. I was planning on starting Android development so this will help me. Any good book you can recommend ?

[NextGen1]

You probably know by now how much of a fan I am for the Head First series (by reading other posts where I have recommended reading material).
Head First Android is a "great" read.

I will attach a copy of the PDF to this post in a minute or so.

No Scan, .PDF is larger then 32MB.
File Attached.

[Hassan]

Thanks a lot. Will keep me busy !