It's easy, quick and simple.
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system,
middleware and key applications. Applications for Android must be written in Java.
The official Android SDK will provide you with all the necessary tools and APIs
to begin developing. It is highly recommended to use Eclipse as your development
IDE.
With Android, developers have full access to the same framework APIs as used by
the native core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify
the reuse of components where any application can publish its capabilities and any
other application may then make use of those capabilities.
Additionally the 'Google APIs add-on' now extends the original SDK to give your
applications access to Google libraries such as Google Maps.
Getting Started
Recommended System Requirements / Environment:
- Windows XP or Vista / Mac OS X / Linux
- Eclipse IDE (Ganymede) with JDK 6
- Android SDK v1.5 r2
- ADT v0.9 (Android Development Tools for Eclipse)
Quick Start Guide
Download all requirements as listed above (links provided below).
Unzip all downloads to any selected folder on your machine.
For the SDK:
- Set your System Variables Path to '<your-sdk-dir>\tools' directory within
the SDK folder.
(MyComputer-Properties-Advanced-Environment)
For the ADT:
- Start Eclipse.exe
- From Eclipse add the ADT installation folder as a software update.
(Help-SoftwareUpdates-Available-Add Location / Tick all options - Install)
Using the Emulator for the first time (while in a project within Eclipse)
- First you must create a AVD (Android Virtual Device)
- To see your available targets execute
android list targets
- Using Command Prompt from within the '<your-sdk-dir>\tools' directory execute
android create avd --target <target#> --name <myavdname>
- Start Emulator and execute
emulator -avd <myavdname>
Important Links
Android
SDK
Eclipse IDE
Detailed
Setup/Installation Instructions
A Hello World Application
For more detailed
information on Android Development please visit the Android Developers Web Site