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After reading some articles on Google, I decided to start working on Android apps since it's an open source platform from Google.

So I wanted to create some apps.I have Android 2.2 Os So I just googled it to find the things and I finally found this link to create Android apps.

Is this the link that enables me to create apps or does we need any other IDE? Like we have gcc for c and VC++ for C++. What other things to do I need to set up to get going on this?

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    Start with the basic tutorials. They describe how to set up your environment and what you need to get going.
    – Adam Lear ♦
    Dec 14, 2011 at 14:32
  • I think to write the apps for android, you need to know Java or C++. If you want to code in c#, you need "Mono For Andriod" (xamarin.com/monoforandroid). Are you familiar with any programming language?
    – Asdfg
    Dec 14, 2011 at 14:33

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You should also try IntelliJ Idea. Now community version has Android support and after dealing with Eclipse and NetBeans for years I find this IDE to be the one for me. Truth is, you don't need any IDE. But if you want to focus on development rather than on typing then you should definitely consider using one.

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    +1 IntelliJ Community Edition is amazing for Android development.
    – Chiron
    Dec 14, 2011 at 22:31
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    Android Studio was born based on IntelliJ IDEA.
    – Ivan Chau
    Nov 15, 2013 at 1:33
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Google's Android Development tutorials teach you how to set up Eclipse for Android development. Most of the Android developers that I know use this configuration. If you are more comfortable with NetBeans, you might want to look at the NBAndroid plugin, which is designed to support Android app development in the NetBeans IDE. I don't know anyone who uses NBAndroid, and I've never tried, so I can't comment on how well it works.

It is possible to develop Android applications using only command-line tools, but I'm not aware of anyone who actually develops using this type of environment.

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  • They also teach you how to develop without Eclipse: developer.android.com/guide/developing/projects/…
    – Tamás Szelei
    Dec 14, 2011 at 16:45
  • @TamásSzelei They do, but I'm not aware of anyone who actually uses that method. I'll add it to my answer for completeness, though.
    – Thomas Owens ♦
    Dec 14, 2011 at 16:47
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    I use CLI tools only, but mostly because I'm an old school vi guy who finds most IDEs cumbersome. I still recommend IDEs for people not invested in other tools.
    – Karl Bielefeldt
    Dec 14, 2011 at 17:00
  • "I'm not aware of anyone" so? I do use the CLI mainly for example, and OP explicitly asked if he needs an IDE or not.
    – Tamás Szelei
    Dec 14, 2011 at 17:02
  • @TamásSzelei Then answer the question with your own experiences. Based on my experience with Android and Android developers, the most commonly used method is Eclipse and Google's plugins. There is a lot of support available for these tools, and I would recommend using this stack to any new developer, simply because of those available support and resources. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and my experiences tell me you should strongly consider an IDE for Android development.
    – Thomas Owens ♦
    Dec 14, 2011 at 17:06
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No, you don't. You don't need one for developing programs in any other language or for any other platform either, but it will give you a productivity boost if you are using one.

Your favorite editor or your favorite IDE are tools for your programming craft. You can always work with bare hands (Notepad), but having a proper tool makes life easier.

Use your tools once you know what they're doing for you.

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    not quite true. There are (or can be) languages where there is no source that can be edited by hand, the IDE creates binaries which are combined into a compiled whole. Can't remember what they are, but remember working with them in the past.
    – jwenting
    Dec 15, 2011 at 7:24
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    Interesting! I'd surely love to see one of those then. I think I can recall some graphics based programming languages where you write programs by combining squares of a certain color. Those are esoteric programming languages though. I was more referring to the ones uses more commonly.
    – Raku
    Dec 15, 2011 at 8:04
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    I think Smalltalk used to do this. As for hideous graphical languages, there's LabView which sees some use from engineers (I think I'm going to have to use it for an EE class :(). There is also Scratch, but that's more an educational language than anything.
    – Tikhon Jelvis
    Dec 15, 2011 at 8:17
  • doesn't Progress do it for screen layouts? Can't quite remember.
    – jwenting
    Dec 15, 2011 at 11:37
  • "No, you don't. You don't need one for developing programs in any other language or for any other platform either"
    – Alan B
    Aug 24, 2012 at 12:39
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I think the command-line tools for Android development are deprecated for the new (ICS) features, but you should be able to use them for 2.x development. That said, I'd certainly recommend setting up Eclipse or another IDE if you can. It'll be easier to follow the tutorials, and also easier to get help on the forums (since people will be less likely to try to reproduce your problems if you're working in a "different" environment).

In addition to the Android SDK you'll need a Java SDK. I haven't tried using Java 7 with the Android SDK yet, but it should be fine. If you're going to be using the emulator, you'll want a fast machine with plenty of memory -- the emulator emulates a complete Android device, right down to an ARM CPU, so it gets better the more power you can throw its way.

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  • I saw that almost nobody mentioned eclipse and I was just about to when I saw this. +1 Eclipse rules!
    – bought777
    Dec 15, 2011 at 7:28
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Need, no, but you are setting yourself up for a lot of menial tasks that Google has elided for you with their Eclipse plugin. If you want to get in and start writing code, the Eclipse + ADT is about as seamless as you can find. Plus a LOT of people use it, so if you have problems there are plenty of message boards to consult for help.

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You could develop without a IDE for android has the Android SDK supports command line arguments. And you could use a your code editor of choice to write your code in. In my experience though the preferred way is to use the Eclipse ADT plugin.

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Yes you need IDE for android app development. You can use Eclipse because they provide a plugin, which makes it easy to use android sdk tools for your IDE and also they are improving android studio.

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    factually wrong. You can do everything with just a text editor and the command line. It's certainly more convenient to use an IDE, but there's nothing that would require one.
    – jwenting
    Jun 20, 2014 at 6:50

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