This and multidex should make Android developers' lives a lot easier. I just hope Google fully supports these tools and irons out any issues that come up.
Google has demonstrated time and time again that their developers are apparently willing to put up with a level of pain in terms of IDEs and build tools (and I'm tempted to complain about Java too) that gives me approximately zero confidence that their perception of what's best for them will coincide with making things easy.
I wonder. It seems like Google is more interested in building out on iOS these days.
Personal story that I'm basing that statement on: when I was applying to Google, I had 2 years of Android experience and 2 years of iOS experience before that. I told them I was more comfortable with Android given it was the most recent platform I worked with. They still insisted on me applying as an iOS engineer.
This obviously could be a supply issue; maybe they have plenty of Android engineers, but not enough iOS engineers?
Can you guys provide a little more background? I agree that this isn't an obvious priority, but I don't understand the reason that this would be considered a hedge.
The compiler toolchains can sidestep the copyright issue by converting API calls into inline code, thus obviating the need to ship infringing API implementations with each Android device.
APIs are valuable IP. Oracle will fight hard to protect them, and even if the issue makes it to the Supreme Court, their victory is almost certain. Google needs an out if the Android platform is to survive; cutting Java out as early in the compilation process as possible is the best way to avoid infringement.
That's up to the courts to decide. People can only hope that they decide against this, else it becomes illegal to create porting layers. For example, wine (the program) would then be illegal.
From my understanding it's mostly about build times and maybe a bit of better code minification snuck in. The current gradle build process with the android gradle plugin is really slow for larger procjets. My last project took 15 seconds to compile hot and over a 1 minute to compile from cold start. This adds up when you need to make a build and see it on a device to make sure it looks right.
They are also making improvements to a UI editor/preview but that never replaces actually testing on a device. Speed to build is a big feature here.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 39.4 ms ] threadPersonal story that I'm basing that statement on: when I was applying to Google, I had 2 years of Android experience and 2 years of iOS experience before that. I told them I was more comfortable with Android given it was the most recent platform I worked with. They still insisted on me applying as an iOS engineer.
This obviously could be a supply issue; maybe they have plenty of Android engineers, but not enough iOS engineers?
APIs are valuable IP. Oracle will fight hard to protect them, and even if the issue makes it to the Supreme Court, their victory is almost certain. Google needs an out if the Android platform is to survive; cutting Java out as early in the compilation process as possible is the best way to avoid infringement.
That's up to the courts to decide. People can only hope that they decide against this, else it becomes illegal to create porting layers. For example, wine (the program) would then be illegal.
They are also making improvements to a UI editor/preview but that never replaces actually testing on a device. Speed to build is a big feature here.