How important is it to know Gradle (Android Studio)? [closed]

Question

After using Eclipse, back in 2010 I moved to IntelliJ IDEA and have been using it ever since. Although Android Studio took over the logic of IntelliJ IDEA, it implemented Gradle as its build system.

Gradle in its essence may be as perfect as they say on the Gradle website, but honestly it's rather confusing for those who first time open project created with Android Studio.

Will Gradle become very important in the future? How long can we not use it? Basically, how smart is it that I keep using IDEA without taking care of Gradle and Android Studio?

I know that at this point I don't need it, but I have to think about the future.

Answer 1

If IDEA is working for you, then it's good to stick with it -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it. IntelliJ will be supporting its existing non-Gradle build system at least through the 14 release and likely beyond that, as far as I know (though I don't speak for them). You can use non-Gradle projects with Android Studio if you already have one, but it's not really encouraged, and we don't provide you a means of creating a new one. It's not that there's much that's inherent to Android Studio that makes it not work with non-Gradle projects, but it's just not where our focus is. Besides, since IntelliJ uses the same Android plugin as Android Studio, most functionality you might want will be available on that side anyhow.

Gradle is the future as far we on Android are concerned, and we hope to eventually have a better story for all the people using Eclipse + ADT, so if you're looking to the long-term future, it's a direction you should eventually go, especially if your development becomes complex enough that the existing build system becomes a limitation. But it's not like your existing workflow is going to just suddenly stop working in the next year or two.

Answer 2

I found Gradle very confusing initially and it took me a long time to wrap my head around it. Android Studio is using Gradle as the preferred build system. Just keep practising with it and you'll slowly learn it. Then if/when you're forced to use Gradle it won't be an insurmountable task. That's what I did and eventually I adopted Gradle, and now I don't have any problems with it.

So I think if you like working with Android Studio and you anticipate you'll be using it for future projects, it's a good idea to familiarise yourself with Gradle in case it eventually does become the only supported build system (and that's looking increasingly likely).

I'd say it's not smart to neglect learning about Gradle it if you're already an Android Studio user.. but it is a subjective question.