Android Programming: Android Studio vs. ADT Bundle?

Question

I'm about to start on "The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to Android Programming". It says to download ADT 21.1 or a version higher than that but literally all I can find is the Android Studio. How much of a difference will that make for me? If you're not familiar with the book its basically a step by step instruction guide on what to do, so I was wondering if getting Android Studio would conflict with that or not. Also I'd be forever in your debt if you could find me a link to ADT 21.1 to put my worries aside. Thanks!

Answer 1

Google has officially shifted support from the Eclipse-based ADT to the IntelliJ IDEA-based Android Studio. While it is a matter of personal preference, you may find that Android Studio is more powerful due to some of its features.

There are some differences in the workflow, but they are not all that massive. Importantly, both support all Android APIs and the full feature set of Java as well as build systems such as Maven and Gradle (the latter being more integrated with IDEA).

Answer 2

Im going to guess that you're using the eclipse IDE for ADT.

1. Download the ADT Plugin zip file ADT-21.1.0.zip from http://dl.google.com/android/ADT-21.1.0.zip
2. Start Eclipse, then select Help > Install New Software.
3. Click Add, in the top-right corner.
4. In the Add Repository dialog, click Archive.
5. Select the downloaded ADT-21.1.0.zip file and click OK.
6. Enter "ADT Plugin" for the name and click OK.
7. In the Available Software dialog, select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click Next.
8. Read and accept the license agreements, then click Finish.
9. In the next window, you'll see a list of the tools to be downloaded. Click Next.
10. If you get a security warning saying that the authenticity or validity of the software can't be established, click OK.
11. When the installation completes, restart Eclipse.

Pulled and Simplified from Update Android ADT Tool to 21.1.0 from 21.0.1.

Answer 3

How much of a difference will that make for me?

In terms of the book, most of the instructions that are tied to the IDE will be different. The code is the same, the apps you get from the code is the same, but the IDE itself is fairly different.

If you are an experienced developer, with background on lots of different tools already, you're probably used to this sort of translating instructions for one IDE into another IDE.

I was wondering if getting Android Studio would conflict with that or not

Those steps that are telling you "click this, drag that" and such in the IDE will be done somewhat differently in Android Studio.

I was wondering if getting Android Studio would conflict with that or not

The ADT Bundle is no longer distributed by Google, and I'd be nervous about getting it from some random Web site.

Google does have instructions for installing the ADT plugin itself into an existing Eclipse installation. Those instructions have at least one flaw — you also need to have installed the Android SDK (sans Android Studio) first.

You might also consider just switching to a different book, one that has been published or updated more recently to include Android Studio coverage.

_{In the interests of full disclosure: I wrote such a book. Just sayin'. :-)}