1Chapter 1
Setting Up Your Android App
Development System
These days, you see Android devices of every size and shape everywhere you look. They can be
worn on your person, used in an appliance, are a part of your car, or provide you entertainment in
your living room taking the form of an iTV set, a tablet, eBook reader, or an Android game console.
In this chapter, we will explore some basic facts about the Android operating system (OS), to give
you a high-level overview of the history of Android, the benefits of learning Android application
development, and which open source programming languages and OSs Android is based upon.
We will also need to get all of the tedious searching and downloads out of the way regarding to how
to go about obtaining all of the various software packages, SDKs, and components, which together
form a comprehensive Android production workstation.
Even though this is an “Absolute Beginners” Android title, I want to teach you how to put together a
pro Android development workstation, so that you are all ready to get into the various Pro Android
series of books from Apress (after you finish mastering this book, of course).
So that everyone experiences this book equally, this chapter will outline all the steps to obtain a
completely decked out Android development workstation.
The History of the Android OS: Impressive Growth
Android OS was originally created by Andy Rubin as an OS for mobile phones; this happened
around the dawn of this 21st century.
In 2005, Google acquired Android Inc., and made Andy Rubin the Director of Mobile Platforms for
Google. Many think this acquisition of the Android OS by Google was largely in response to the
appearance of Apple’s iPhone around that same time. However, there were enough other large
players, such as RIM Blackberry, Nokia Symbian, and Microsoft Windows Mobile, that it was
deemed to be a savvy business decision for Google to purchase Android engineering talent and