It’s been a long time coming, but Google has finally ended official support for Eclipse ADT (Android Developer Tools) in favour of their dedicated Android Studio IDE.
Google first announced it would end support for Eclipse ADT back in 2005 and warned developers to make the switch to Android Studio before the end of the year. Over a year later, Google kept up support for Eclipse ADT, but has decided now is time for putting it to rest.
With an increasing amount of features in Android Studio there’s little reason to continue using Eclipse other than from habit. “All of your favourite ADT tools are now part of Android Studio, including DDMS, Trace Viewer, Network Monitor, and CPU Monitor. We’ve also improved Android Studio’s accessibility, including keyboard navigation enhancements and screen reader support,” wrote Jamal Eason, Product Manager for Android, in a blog post.
Android Studio’s latest update, 2.2, added over 20 major new features including the following highlights:
- Instant Run Iteration Engine
- Layout Editor
- Constraint Layout Engine
- C++ Support
- APK Analyzer
- GPU Debugger (beta)
- Espresso Test Recorder (beta)
Those stuck in their ways can still use the existing ADT tools but don’t expect official support from Google in the future. Eclipse’s open-source community, Andmore, will continue to provide upkeep on Android support in Eclipse but it’s advisable to make the switch.
Eason describes Android Studio as enabling “powerful code editing with advanced code-completion and refactoring. It includes robust static analysis, bringing the intelligence of the Android engineering team to you to help you easily apply Android coding best practices, and includes simultaneous debugging in both Java and C++ to help fix any bugs that slip through. When you combine this with performance tooling, a fast, flexible build system, code templates, GitHub integration, and its high-performance, feature-rich emulator, you get a deeply Android-tailored development environment for the many form factors of the OS.”
For most developers, migration to Android Studio is as simple as importing your existing Eclipse ADT projects with the File > New > Import Project menu option.
Google claims Android Studio is now the development environment used by 92% of the top 125 Google Play apps and games. Android Studio is an open source project, available to all at no cost.
Are you still using ADT in Eclipse? Let us know why in the comments.
