INTRODUCTION TO ANDROID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to your guide to Android™ app development!

This blog aims to teach the basics of Android app development in Android Studio using Java programming language. I assume that you don‟t have any Java® or Android programming experience. I am going to explain every bit of app development in simple terms. You‟ll start from scratch and will be able to convert your ideas to your own apps after completing this tutorial.

SETTING UP YOUR DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

We‟ll use Android Studio, which is the official IDE for Android app development; therefore we need to install it with the required plugins.

Installation of Android Studio

Android Studio runs on Java Runtime Environment (JRE). JRE can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. We need to follow the steps given below for the installation of Android Studio independent of our operating system:

1. Installation of Java: Java is developed by Oracle Inc. There are basically two Java packages: Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Software Development Kit (JDK). JRE is used for running software written in Java programming language whereas JDK is utilized for developing Java software. Therefore, installing JRE is adequate for running Android Studio because we will not develop Java software here.

Please navigate to the following website to download the JRE: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html. Just select the version compatible with your operating system, download it and install it with the usual installation procedure (Next, next, …).

2. Installation of Android Studio and Android SDK

Android Studio is bundled with Android Software Development Kit (SDK). Please navigate to the official download site located at: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html . The download link for the Windows version is shown at the top of this site but if you scroll down, you can find the setup files available for download for other operating systems as shown below

When you download and install Android Studio, Android SDK will also be automatically installed.3. Installation of SDK updates: After the installation of Android Studio, it is better to check SDK updates. For this, run Android Studio and open the SDK manager from Tools  Android  SDK Manager as shown below:

The SDK Manager window will appear as shown in below

Please open the standalone SDK Manager by clicking the link indicated in Figure 2.4. In the standalone SDK Manager, click on the “Install … packages” as shown below:

After you install the packages, you‟ll have the latest SDK and be ready to develop apps. However, before our test drive app one more step is needed: setting up the emulators.