Android SDK Tutorial - Getting Started

Android is a software stack for portable devices such as mobiles and tablets and nowadays PC's too using BlueStacks or Android Emulator. The Android OS is based on a modified Linux kernel.
Android's open source stack runs on a Java-based, object-oriented application framework. It operates over Java core libraries running on the Dalvik virtual machine (VM).

Applications for android are developed using a group of tools provided with the Android SDK(software development kit). The SDK consists of all required tools and framework for developers to write and deploy efficient applications for a device. These tools can be accessed through an Eclipse plugin called Android Development Tools (ADT). Developing with Eclipse is preferred as it has the ability to directly invoke tools required to develop applications. But you can, however, choose any other text editor or an integrated development environment (IDE).

Getting your system ready

Check your system requirements:

• Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit) or above
• Mac OS X 10.8.5 or later
• Linux
• 64-bit distribution capable of running 32-bit applications
• GNU C Library (glibc) 2.11 or later is required.
• Tested on Ubuntu 12.04, Precise Pangolin

Download and install the Java Development Kit (JDK) from here.

Download the Eclipse ADT with Android SDK or use this link to download directly for Windows:
32-Bit: Eclipse ADT Bundle-x86
64-Bit: Eclipse ADT Bundle-x64

Now, run the installer to a known location (or unzip the file if you downloaded .zip or .tgz package)

That's it! Now when you open the extracted folder you will get two more folders namely, eclipse and sdk. Open the eclipse application from the eclipse folder. 

Installing & Verifying ADT Plugin for Eclipse

Use the update manager feature of Eclipse to download and install the ADT Plugin:

1. Select Install New Software... from Help menu of Eclipse.
2. Click Add... on the top right corner, and enter the following and click OK.
   Name:  ADT Plugin
   Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
   
   
3. In the Available Software view, you should now see Developer Tools added to the list. Select the checkbox next to Developer Tools, which will automatically select the nested tools Android DDMS, Android Development Tools, Android Hierarchy Viewer, Android Native Development Tools, Android Traceview and Tracker for OpenGL ES. Click Next.
4. In the resulting Install Details dialog, the above mentioned tools features will be listed. Click Next to read and accept the license agreement and install any dependencies, then click Finish. It will install the required files, wait till it completes.
5. Restart Eclipse.
   
   That's it folks! In the next part we'll test the installation by creating a simple HelloWorld program.
   
   Any questions? Comment below.