Android Notes: Setting up the SDK

These will form a series of posts detailing my progress in learning the Android SDK. When I first started it was very confusing, and took a while to learn enough information to even make sense of what the documentation was trying to tell me.

The first place to visit is the Android Developers site which contains everything. However, don’t expect the information to jump out the page at you, a certain amount of reading is required. Expect to spend at least an hour just clicking on links and reading.

The SDK is required, and unless you want to make life difficult (you don’t) then install the Eclipse IDE and the Android plugin for Eclipse.

To install and configure the SDK, start with the Android SDK page. I did this on a Mac, you should too (it’s easier to get working) unless you own a PC in which case you’ll need to install the Android phone drivers too.

Once the SDK is up and running, you’ll need Eclipse. Get Eclipse Classic rather than any other versions. Then follow the instructions explaining the Android Development Plugin.

To test the SDK and Eclipse are configured correctly, have a go at the good old Hello World application. Once that works you’re sort of left to fend for yourself, staring at the Next Steps section of the install page.

What you should do now is go and learn all about Android and what all its terminology is. You also need to understand how your app runs, and why there is no ‘main’ function.

Next time… some videos to watch.

It’s also a good idea to read the Brand Guidelines page. The cool green Android is OK to use, but you’re not allowed to have the word ‘Droid’ or ‘Android’ in them. This isn’t Apple, no lazy branding here ;)

“Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.”

About James

I'm just a person who likes writing software in their spare time. I'm not an "indie games developer" and am not trying to escape my day job and live in the happy world of games dev. I'm more like one of those people that used to write games in their spare time in the 80s. My stuff would be PD or Shareware if this were the 80s or 90s. It's good to comment on the posts in here :)