INSTALLING ECLIPSE AND JAVA

If you are already developing Java applications, chances are that you are using the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE), and of course the Java Development Kit (JDK), and you are using JDK5 or above and most likely the J2SE or Standard Edition. If this is the case, you can skip down to the later section titled “Installing the Android Development Kit.” On the other hand, if you are starting from scratch, Eclipse is available from www.eclipse.org, and the JDK is available from www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html. The current version of the Java Standard Edition is version 7.

In my experience, it is better to download and install the JDK first. There are two possible downloads: the JDK and the JRE. The JDK is the development software, and the JRE is simply the “run-time environment,” a piece of software required by an operating system to host a Java application. Be sure you download and install the JDK. It contains and installs a copy of the JRE, so there is no need to install them separately. You should also note that Eclipse, Java, and Android development software are available for the Linux and Mac OSs, although they are not directly addressed here. After the JDK installs, you will want to set its location in your computer system’s PATH variable. You can consult references on how to do this on the Internet, but if you are using Windows 7 as I am, you can use the following steps: