Would like to know the main differences between the Android NetBEANS plugin and Eclipse plugin ? Do you have a visual editor in both or one of both ? Do you have more support on Eclipse ?
Thanks.
I think its a matter of personal preference, but I think Eclipse with ADT plugin is recommended by Google for good reasons.
ADT simplifies things by generating build scripts for you and allows you to drag and drop files into your project and auto generates references in R.Java file.
It sounds to me that you might be new to Android/Java development? If that's the case then my personal opinion is stick with the Google recommendations. It saves you a lot of time getting your first android application up and running and I think that's the goal for most people starting a new development language.
I develop almost everything in NetBeans. However, for Android application development, Eclipse is the better IDE to use, as it simplifies a lot of simple tasks.
I prefer NetBeans generally, but Eclipse is way more tailored to Android development than NetBeans at the moment.
You will be more productive :
Android offers an Eclipse Plugin per their web site. Check out this link on the Android site: http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/index.html. For the beginning programmer new to Android the tight integration will allow ramp up to speed faster. One of the most highly regarded reference works by Reto Meier "Professional Android 4 Application Development" recommends Eclipse with the ADT Plug-in and makes no mention of Netbeans.
The ADT Plugin includes an Android Project Wizard, Virtual Device Manager and Emulator and especially the layout and resource editors for XML. Therefore you get the tightest integration to make it easiest for a programmer to ramp up quickly and begin to develop Android applications.
Android recommends Eclipse and the plugin, as do respected developers like Reto Meier over Netbeans. (Despite the fact that a plugin does exist for Netbeans as helpfully provided below.)
My recommendation if you are new to Android development, use the Eclipse with ADT Plug-in. If you are a Netbeans veteran, stick with that.
Related
I don't have experience in android development and I'd like to start writing an application.
The official developer tools page contains link to two different IDEs. The first contains a bundled ADT version of Eclipse.
Android Studio, the second IDE, is based on IntelliJ.
Apart from these differences I can't get if there is anything that I can do with only one of them (I guess the answer to this question is no) and what's the point of having two distinct official IDEs.
What are the differences between the two?
The first contains a bundled ADT version of Eclipse.
This is simply a packaging convenience. You are welcome to obtain Eclipse separately and add Android tooling to it.
Android Studio, the second IDE, is based on IntelliJ.
At the present time, this is an early-access preview. IMHO, it is not suited for someone who does not have experience in Android application development.
Apart from these differences I can't get if there is anything that I can do with only one of them
At the present time, Android Studio is an early-access preview, meaning that there are lots of things that it does not have integrated in. Now, by this time next year, and hopefully far sooner, Android Studio will have equivalent or superior integration than does Eclipse with the ADT plugin.
and what's the point of having two distinct official IDEs.
There are an infinite number of "official" tools. You are welcome to use a plain text editor and tools outside of any IDE, for example.
You are welcome to watch the Google I|O 2013 video on developer tools, where they describe a bit of the rationale behind the development of Android Studio.
Android Studio vs Eclipse – Main Differences:
Build Tools
Android Studio utilizes the fast growing Gradle build system. It
builds on top of the concepts of Apache Ant and Apache Maven but it
also introduces a Groovy DSL (Domain-Specific Language) that allows
for scripted builds which opens up many automation possibilities like
uploading your beta .apk to TestFlight for testing. Eclipse on the
other hand uses Apache Ant as its main build system which a very
robust XML based build system that many Java developers may already be
familiar with.
Advanced Code Completion/Refactoring
Both IDEs feature the standard Java code auto completion but in the
case of Android Studio, Google has baked in deeper support for
specific Android code and refactoring. Android Studio can refactor
your code in places where it’s just not possible using Eclipse and
ADT. In addition, in my opinion IntelliJ’s Java auto completion seems
more “intelligent” and predicts better what I want to do so there is
definitely an improvement in this area over Eclipse.
User Interface Design
One of the main selling point Google used to market Android Studio
when it came out was its completely redesigned user interface design
tool. After working with it for some time, it’s clear that the new
tool is much better than the old. It literally crashes it. The new
interface design too in Android Studio is faster, responds to changes
more rapidly and has more customization options that with Eclipse, you
had to manually set in the XML.
Project Organization
Both IDEs work differently in an effort to help you manage and
organize your projects. If you’ve used Eclipse then you must be
familiar with the concept of workspaces. When Eclipse starts, you
select the workspace that contains your projects and you can load all
project of that workspace in your tree navigation. If you want to
switch to a project in a different workspace, then you have to restart
the whole IDE. Android Studio treats this situation differently by
introducing the concept of modules. Your app could be one module, a
library that you just downloaded can be another and the Ad SDK you are
currently integrating could be a third. Each of these modules can have
their own Gradle build files and declare their own dependencies. To
me, Android Studio seems more natural but it takes some time to get
used to if you have been using Eclipse for a long time.
IDE Performance/Stability
Eclipse is a purely Java based software, and a big one. In order to
run it reliably you need to have more than decent amount of RAM and
good CPU power to back it up. Many user who do not strictly meet these
criteria are reporting very bad experiences with it. It is not unusual
for Eclipse to crash while exporting an apk or having to restart it
after using it for a few hours straight. Having said that, Android
Studio is still in beta so it comes with its own bugs that crash the
IDE every now and then but in the meanwhile, the whole experience
feels faster and more robust.
Conclusion
Having used both Android Studio and Eclipse for a while now, I would
personally say that Android Studio has the edge over the two. It might
be a bit unstable yet and some updates require a complete
re-installation of the software but when it eventually comes out of
beta, it will blow Eclipse with ADT out of the water. I especially
like the stability of the editor and not having to reboot every now
and then, the new and improved UI designer and the sexy themes that
make Android Studio a real eye candy. What side will you take in the
Android Studio vs Eclipse battle?
Besides the numerous points already made, while you can use the ADT tool for other projects outside Android, the Android Studio is purely dedicated to the development of Android apps.Android Studio also allows you to work faster as it gives you intelligent suggestions as you type, freeing you from the shackles of having to go back to your .java or .xml files to look up names of variable or other stuff you can't remember.I just started using Android Studio myself and i can say i am never leaving it.It is particularly good for new programmers.
I wonder if there is any difference between using the Android Studio, Google offer to use, and use the IntelliJ Base IDE, and install the Android plugin?
Would it effect the project and module handling?
Would it effect facets?
I've been using IntelliJ IDEA 12 for Android projects for a long time. Android studio has a lot of beneficial additional Android integration, such as:
Inline Lint API checks
Drawable and string previews
Better layout editor
Built in Gradle support
Better DDMS integration
But you can certainly just use the community edition of IntelliJ 12 for Android projects, and for production projects, I would say it's preferable at this time until Android Studio stabilizes. Also, I believe IntelliJ 13 will essentially include all of the Android functionality that Android Studio does, from what I've heard.
This is useful FAQs about Android Studio vs Android Plugin in IntelliJ IDEA.
It is clear to me that
The EAP (Early Access Preview) of IntelliJ IDEA 13, which includes all of the Android Studio features except for the redesigned new project wizard and the App Engine cloud endpoints integration, is available now.
http://blog.jetbrains.com/idea/2013/05/intellij-idea-and-android-studio-faq/
As of today, Android studio actually functions, so I guess this would be my immediate solution. plus I'm not even sure the Android plugin would support all the features as Android studio will, and that there would not be any conflicts... better safe then sorry.
I've started learning Scala, and I... I think I'm in love. I've only coded small test snippets so far, but since I currently working in Android development, what I really want to do is try my hand at writing Android applications in Scala.
I've found articles and questions on the matter, but mostly referring to older versions of the three tools (Android SDK/Scala/Eclipse), so the general question is:
Is anybody coding Android apps in Scala right now, with the latest SDK, Scala 2.9 and Eclipse Indigo? How viable is it?
And, in particular:
How's the interaction/integration between Scala's features and the Android library?
What's the state of the Scala plugin for Eclipse? I've read all the features you'd expect are there, but I'd like to know first-hand stories, specially about the debugger.
How well does the build process (scala to java to dalvik, ant, proguard, etc.) automate?
Thanks!
We are using Scala heavily to test our Android code - you can read a writeup of how we're doing so here. We use Ant or SBT to compile - there's an excellent SBT plugin for Android development.
Having said all of that, I'm not sure that I would recommend Scala for production Android development. In particular Scala 2.9.x is basically unusable as there is no good way to get the libraries to work on Android. You can read about the issue here.
It's a real pity, as Android development would benefit considerably from Scala if we could get it working properly.
Solution found here to use the latest Android SDK, with Eclipse 3.7.2 and Scala 2.9 :
https://stackoverflow.com/a/11084146/1287856
It completely handles the android library
You can make Android Library out of scala projects as usual
The build process is completely automated, including proguard-ing and exporting the project with the regulard Android tools.
I started to implement the android application (a twitter client) from the book "Learning Android" with Scala 2.9.0-1 a while ago.
In my opinion you can use it. I had only one problem with the parameter list at AsyncTask (see this link, problem #3).
If you want to checkout out the project, you can find it here.
This video from ScalaDays 2011 may be hepful:
Scala on Android: Real-world Experience at Bump Technologies by Michael Galpin
EDIT:
If you really really want to run Scala code on Android (and not really make an app, but for yourself), then I have an easier solution. It depends on if your phone supports the procedure. In summary the steps are:
Install Ubuntu on your device (as described here). This will not affect the Android installation.
Boot Ubuntu, install JDK, Scala, etc, copy your Scala jars and run from there.
Can I use eclipse with java to create an Android app? One programmer said yes, but a programmer at IBM said no. I'm tring to put app on the android market.
Is it possible to just use the Eclipse IDE to create an android app or do I need to use a different IDE?
Yes, you can create Android apps using Eclipse. You'll have to install the Android SDK and ADT before you get started. Here are some guides to get you started:
http://developer.android.com/tools/building/building-eclipse.html
http://developer.android.com/tools/projects/projects-eclipse.html
http://developer.android.com/tools/testing/testing_eclipse.html
Eclipse is the most popular. There are options such as IntelliJ IDEA, Netbeans.
The followings
http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/publish-to-android-market/ and
http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/publishing.html
will be helpful on how to export your app to android market.
Sure you can Java is one of the most popular languages to program in for android creation.
The MoSync IDE is based on Eclipse and is conveniently cross-platform. You might consider that.
However, there's a how-to for Android apps in Eclipse located at the Android Developer site.
Sure, you can use the Eclipse IDE for Android Development:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html
While Eclipse is the most popular for developing Android applications, you can use other IDEs such as Netbeans and IntelliJ IDEA..
You can find more info at
http://www.nbandroid.org/ for Netbeans
http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/features/google_android.html for IntelliJ IDEA
Personally I prefer Eclipse, but if you are uncomfortable using Eclipse you can use those IDEs.
Hi all
I want to start Android development but I just don't like Eclipse. (Yes, I am picky. lol)
Is there any other good IDE rather than Eclipse that really WORKS with Android SDK? (QT maybe?)
Thanks in advance
Ignacio
UPDATE:
I am on Mac OS X. Is there any plugin for Xcode that makes the trick of linking Android SDK with it?
Nope, my personal experience shows that Netbeans Android plugin (aka nbandroid) is too buggy. I'm using Intellij IDEA - which is fantastic
As for IDEs, Netbeans is pretty good for Android development.
Basically, every text editor or IDE can be used with some amount of tweaking. See this reference as a way to get started: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/other-ide.html
Update: A page dedicated to alternative IDEs was removed from Android dev guide. A page about workflow & tools has some information on the subject: http://developer.android.com/tools/workflow/index.html#ThirdParty
Eclipse is just a terrible, buggy pile of garbage from top to bottom, and most people have told me NetBeans doesn't have a mature Android implementation.
How difficult is it to setup Intellij IDEA for Android development, and what should I expect versus developing for Android on Eclipse?
I advise Android bundle for TextMate: https://github.com/nesterow/Android.tmbundle It's lightweight and easy to use. There is no intellisense, but actually it just makes you remember namespaces better. :)