Android Studio
Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Google's Android operating system, built on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA software and designed specifically for Android development. It is available for download on Windows, macOS and Linux based operating systems. It is a replacement for the Eclipse Android Development Tools (ADT) as the primary IDE for native Android application development.
Android Studio was announced on May 16, 2013 at the Google I/O conference. It was in early access preview stage starting with version 0.1 in May 2013, then entered beta stage starting with version 0.8, which was released in June 2014. The first stable build was released in December 2014, starting with version 1.0.
On May 7, 2019, Kotlin replaced Java as Google's preferred language for Android app development. Java is still supported, as is C++.
Android Studio supports all the same programming languages as IntelliJ (and CLion), e.g. Java, C++, and more with extensions, such as Go; and Android Studio 3.0 or later supports Kotlin and "all Java 7 language features and a subset of Java 8 language features that vary by platform version." External projects support some Java 9 features. While it supports all released Java versions, and Java 12, it is unclear to what level Android Studio supports Java versions up to Java 12 (the documentation mentions partial Java 8 support). At least some new language features up to Java 12 can be used in Android.
The Android Emulator has additional requirements beyond the basic system requirements for Android Studio, described below:
- SDK Tools 26.1.1 or higher
- 64-bit processor
- Windows: CPU with UG (unrestricted guest) support
- HAXM 6.2.1 or later (HAXM 7.2.0 or later recommended).
Using hardware acceleration has additional requirements on Windows and Linux:
- Intel processor on Windows or Linux: Intel processor with support for Intel VT-x, Intel EM64T (Intel 64), and Execute Disable (XD) Bit functionality
- AMD processor on Linux: AMD processor with support for AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) and Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSSE3)
- AMD processor on Windows: Android Studio 3.2 or higher and the Windows 10 April 2018 release or higher for Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHPX) functionality.
To work with Android 8.1 (API level 27) and higher system images, the attached webcam must be able to capture 720p frames.
