Why Android Studio Is Better For Android Developers Instead Of Eclipse?

Android will always be a popular platform for companies. Even today Samsung, LG, and HTC are using Android as their operating system. Also, Android developers are planning to launch smartwatches, laptops, cars, etc. soon. Thus, this platform’s future is high, and the need for Android developers has increased. The reason behind this is that it is an open-source platform which lets the developer publish their app immediately after they are finalized.

Android’s IDE is also great and there has been a debate about the two IDEs that have been used by Android developers- Android Studio and Eclipse. Eclipse has been used extensively by developers since long, but recently with Google’s Android Studio developers have been shifting to this new IDE. Why is this shift happening, and why Android Studio is considered better than Eclipse? Let’s find out.

A little history of Eclipse and Android Studio

Android Studio:

Google announced Android Studio as the new IDE for Android development projects in 2013. Its first stable version was released in December 2014. The current and latest version of Google Android studio is 3.2.1 released in October 2018.

It came into existence to replace the Eclipse IDE for Android development tools. It can be downloaded on Windows, Linus, and MacOS.

Eclipse

It is an Android IDE that was released 16 years ago in the year 2001, on November 7.

In September 2018, its stable version was released.

It uses Java and C as its core languages.

Why Android Studio over Eclipse?

Eclipse had been posing a lot of issues like:

Developing multiple projects in a single workspace is difficult as it needs t0 to be restarted every 2–3 minutes.

When its build system is upgraded, getting your existing project to start again will take hours.

To publish an app, all other active app needs to be closed otherwise Eclipse will crash.

These reasons prompted developers to look for a more stable IDE. And Google came up with Android Studio. After it came into existence, Eclipse couldn’t challenge AS and started losing its market

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If you are still working on Eclipse, you need to switch it to AS a.s.a.p.

Here are 6 points of comparison that shows why Android studio is a better IDE and choice for Android developers than Eclipse.

AS Gradle Integration tool is great

AS has integrated within the Gradle build system which is a great tool. If you are working with Eclipse, you need to try out this feature. It will really work for you.

Eclipse prime build system is Apache Ant. It is a robust XML build system which is famous amongst many Java developers.

Better Advanced Code Completion in AS

Both these IDEs have Java code auto-completion feature. But in Android Studio, this code completion feature looks and works better. As a developer, you know the value of good code completion. (Writing codes all day is frustrating). While

In Eclipse, this feature looks confusing most time the results you get are not precise.

AS User Interface is more prompt

Eclipse IDE is an all-purpose IDE, which can be used with any language and platform. Thus, its user interface is a little more complex. While

Google’s Android Studio has a UI that is more prompt and effortless to navigate. It was built strictly for Android; hence it doesn’t have much complex UI.

Managing Projects is a lot easier in AS

Both IDEs have their own way to manage projects. And their organization skills are great. But in Eclipse, the project needs to be merged in the workplace. And switching them to a different workspace means selecting a different path and then restarting it. This restart makes the project looks out of place.

AS uses modules for managing and sorting the files. Code modules have Gradle build files meaning they can state their own dependencies. So, re-starting a project after it is sorted into place doesn’t look so out of place.

AS provides System stability

If you have Eclipse on your device, you will require a higher amount of RAM and high CPU speed for it to function. The reason is that it is a larger IDE and Java-based software. If you don’t meet these requirements, it will get unresponsive and crash.

Google’s Android Studio has fewer bugs and provides needs less RAM and CPU speed to function. This doesn’t overwhelm the systems. AS is also quick can build release versions of complex projects in seconds. The same takes 1–2 minutes in Eclipse.

AS has Drag-and-Drop feature

Android Studio has a new feature of Drag-and-Drop, which Eclipse doesn’t. The experts feel that this is not much of an issue for a developer who is not much into enhanced visual elements.

But if you want the visual elements of your app to look appealing and work smoothly, this feature is great for you. A developer must know Visual Basic to use this Drag-and-Drop feature. Also, AS ought Graphical User Interface which Eclipse doesn’t have.

Conclusion

The above blog must have given you ample reasons to switch to Android Studio. Still, don’t take my word for it. Before switching your Android project from Eclipse to AS, try it and then understand if it works for you. Google Android Studio was launched in 2013 and since then it has become the leading IDE for Android application development. Its amazing features and easy interface are the reason behind it. Eclipse couldn’t meet the demands of developers and died within a year. So, everything is before you, make the right choice.

Ajay Goyal is co-founder & director at Endive Software. He works dedicatedly with client’s aspects to deliver industry-specific results. He runs development services like mobile app development and website development for enterprises and startups.