Android Studio Setup

Follow the instructions below that are appropriate for your machine. But keep in mind that installing new software can be challenging, so don’t be discouraged if you get stuck. We’re here to help! Come to office hours or post on the forum in the Android Studio category.

An important part of Android development is to be able to test your work. If you have an Android device, you can configure Android Studio to install your test app onto it. However, if you don’t have an Android device, or want to test on devices other than ones that you own, you’ll need to utilize the Android Emulator.

The easiest way to get a virtual device set up is to start a project, build it, and then try to run it. That will launch a dialog allowing you to configure a virtual device. Going through the Android "Hello, World!" tutorial is also a great way to get started familiarizing yourself with app development.

Before you can use Git with Android Studio you may need to install the underlying Git tool itself. We suggest you follow these instructions to install Git. Once you complete the installation, Android Studio should automatically detect Git and allow you to use it to manage your Android projects.

Note that you do not need to install a GUI for Git—or the GitHub Desktop application. We’re going to use Android Studio’s excellent built-in Git interface. So once you’ve installed Git you can move on.

If you have an Android phone you can also install and run your apps on your own device, which will be faster and more fun that using the emulator. Follow this tutorial for instructions on how to configure your device properly to run your apps during development.

Note that we are definitely throwing you into the deep end with Android Studio. As you work your way through the Android "Hello, World!" tutorial you will definitely encounter code and concepts that are new and unfamiliar to you. That’s normal.

CS 125 is designed to introduce you to two sides of programming and computer science. In lectures and on our homework problems and quizzes you’ll be working on clean, simple, isolated problems. Our goal is to prepare you to think and solve problems like a computer scientist.

But building real things also requires a different set of skills and mindset, sometimes referred to as hacking. Hacking involves learning how to work with large, complicated systems. It means spending more time learning about how other things work than building your own things. It requires that you get comfortable not necessarily understanding how every part of your program works—at least not right away.

You’ll get lots of practice at this on our labs and MPs, starting today. Our advice: be brave and unafraid. Try things, experiment, and have fun. You aren’t going to break anything important, and even if you get a mess and get stuck we’ll be able to help bail you out. And the rewards are huge. Once you can hack together Android apps, you can distribute them to billions of users all over the world. When we said "change the world", we meant it.

Once you have the "Hello, world!" app running, try to make the following modifications:

Your goal before we release MP0 should be to at least complete through the "Build a simple user interface" portion of the tutorial. That will prepare your will to begin the machine project.