HN Explorer

Like Android, but not Java/XML. Any alternatives?

4 points by curtis17 ↗ HN
Android L with the Material design language looks very attractive. But I really dislike the Java/XML combo for development.

So, anyone tried the alt-Java's for coding Android apps: Kotlin, Xtend, Scala etc.

Or even Xamarin or QT/QML.

P.S With ART, I hoped Google were moving away from Java and would bless one of the alt-Java syntaxes and eventually cut-out Java and evolve ART independently. But apparently not.

6 comments

[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 21.4 ms ] thread
higherpurpose
This here explains why they can't move to other languages overnight:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3XyVkAP8nmWjASz8L_Ojjnj...

They basically need to rewrite Android from scratch, and then find a way to make all old Java apps compatible with the new Android, too, but I'm guessing that should be easier with ART available.

frowaway001
That doesn't make any sense in the OP's context.

In which language Android core classes are implemented doesn't matter as long as both languages compile down to Adnroid's bytecode.

curtis17
Yes. My understanding is that currently the Android ART toolchain is:

Java source -> Java byte code -> Dalvik byte code in apk -> install time compile to Oat file for execution in ART

Initially, just looking for something more expressive/succinct than Java that compiles down to Java byte code and is sympathetic to the Android frameworks. Not sure if there are any tools that compile down directly to dalvik and skip Java byte code entirely.