Google today released Android Studio 1.0, the first stable version of its Integrated Development Environment (IDE) aimed at Android developers. Google first announced Android Studio during I/0 2013 and now, after two years of development, it is finally ready to leave the beta tag behind. Android Studio 1.0 is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux PCs.
Android Studio is built on the Java-based IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition by JetBrains and aims to provide an all-in-one development experience that’s faster and smoother than existing options.
Android Studio includes wizards that let you start with new project templates or import Google code samples. If empty projects scare you or you’re having trouble getting started, you’ll like sample importing and the included templates.
Android Studio lets you both edit and previews your Android layouts across multiple screen sizes, languages, and even API versions. If you’re developing an app that will run on more than one Android release — and, given the current version landscape, you should be — this will be very helpful. Android Studio includes a performance analysis tool called Memory Monitor. It shows you the memory usage of your app over time so you can find ways to improve your app’s performance.
Android Studio enables an easy way to add Google Cloud Backends and Endpoints to your app, as well as Google Cloud Messaging. The latter is one of the features Google initially promised would come to the IDE. The company’s goal was (and still is) to make Android Studio the single hub in which Android developers can build new apps, as well as refresh old ones.
Android Studio uses a Gradle-based build system that Google says “provides a lot of flexibility and extensibility, as well as the ability to build from within and outside of the IDE.” Key features include build variant support to better handle different build types (debug vs. release) or different versions of the same app (paid vs. free), multi-APKs handling through splits, multi-dex support, and dependency management for third-party libraries.
If you want to migrate to Android Studio, or want to start building apps for Android Phones, Wear, TV, Auto, or Google Glass, you can hit up the source link below to download Android Studio 1.0 now.
