BrainFood: Installing Eclipse and the Android SDK

You want to start developing apps. Good for you! Getting up and running may seem a little intimidating, but don't worry this post will make your set up process much smoother.

This is a step by step tutorial for Eclipse Users:

Go to this link and select "Eclipse ADT" (ADT stands for "Android Developer Tools". This bundle will provide you with everything you need to get started including the Android SDK tools and a version of the Eclipse IDE with a built-in ADT.
Now click on "download the Eclipse ADT bundle now"
Once you have downloaded the bundle unzip the file named "act_bundle-<os_platform>.zip" and save it to a directory.
Then open the directory named "act-bundle-<os_platform>/eclipse" and launch eclipse
Great Job! Now you are up and running, but there are still a few steps you may need to complete. You now have all the Android developer tools, but there are a few Android SDK packages you need to download to make it complete.
To begin downloading packages visit the Android SDK Manager in Eclipse by going to the menu bar --> Window --> AndroidSDKManager
When you open the manager, some packages will be selected by default LEAVE THEM SELECTED. But, make sure you check to see that you download the latest tools and Android Platform. To do this open the tools directory and select the "Android SDK Tools", "Android SDK Platform Tools", and the highest version of the "Android SDK Build Tools".
Make sure you also get support libraries for additional APIs by opening the Extras folder and installing the "Android Support Library" which gives you a larger set of APIs that are compatible with most Android versions.
If you want to use the Google API you need to make sure to install the GooglePlayServices Package. To do this go to extras --> and select GooglePlayServices and GoogleRepository
Once you have selected all the packages you want, click install. Double click each package name and agree to the terms and conditions, and click install again. MAKE SURE TO NOT EXIT THE SDK MANAGER WHILE INSTALLING, it will cancel the installation.