3.3 Eclipse IDE
This book’s examples were developed using the versions of the Android SDK that were most current at the time of this writing (versions 2.3.3 and 3.0), and the Eclipse IDE with the ADT (Android Development Tools) Plugin. In this chapter, we assume that you’ve already set up the Java SE Development Kit (JDK), the Android SDK and the Eclipse IDE, as discussed in the Before You Begin section that follows the Preface.
Introduction to Eclipse
Eclipse enables you to manage, edit, compile, run and debug applications. The ADT Plugin for Eclipse gives you the additional tools you’ll need to develop Android apps. You can also use the ADT Plugin to manage multiple Android platform versions, which is important if you’re developing apps for many devices with different Android versions installed. When you start Eclipse for the first time, the Welcome tab (Fig. 3.2) is displayed. This contains several icon links, which are described in Fig. 3.3. Click the Workbench button to display the Java development perspective
, in which you can begin developing Android apps. Eclipse supports development in many programming languages. Each set of Eclipse tools you install is represented by a separate development perspective. Changing perspectives reconfigures the IDE to use the tools for the corresponding language.
Fig. 3.2 Welcome to the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers tab in the Eclipse window.
Fig. 3.3 Links on the Eclipse IDE’s Welcome tab.
Link |
Description |
Overview |
Provides an overview of the IDE and its features. |
What’s New |
Provides information about what’s new in the installed version of Eclipse as well as links to the online Eclipse community and updates for the IDE. |
Samples |
Provides links to samples for the Eclipse configuration you downloaded. |
Tutorials |
Provides tutorials to help you get started with Java development in Eclipse and to help you use various Eclipse capabilities. |
Workbench |
Takes you to the development perspective. |