5 ms·

You could also just use Java.

kuschku 11y ago
No, that was the first argument – android will soon be 3 versions behind Java, it already is using Java 6 compiled for Java 5 bytecode. The distance is getting worse with every day.
- georgemcbay 11y ago
  It also supports a couple of Java 7 features... but... I totally agree with your point here. This far past the Oracle lawsuit and the increasing divergence between "real Java" and "Android Java", it is actually kind of bizarre Google hasn't really presented any kind of useful guidance on what they plan to do moving forward (unless their plan is actually to just keep limping along with a gimped Java implementation indefinately). It is hard not to look at things like Swift and wish Google would make a similar push to update the "offical" Android language. Technically speaking, Kotlin is a great alternative, but without the sort of official blessing Swift has coming from Apple, for most developers it will be politically very difficult to get by the inertia that appears when suggesting you use a "non-standard" language, regardless of how interoperable it is technically. Outside of really lean startups you might as well be asking to write your app in brainfuck if it isn't going to be in Java.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    This is the proof that Sun was right all along and Google just played a Microsoft on them. Oracle might have chosen some dubious arguments, but the reality is that Google forked Java and doesn't have any will to improve developer's lifes. Before anyone replies how Jonathan praised Google, check Gosling history how things really went.
    - incepted 11y ago
      Gosling stopped all technical involvement with Java in the late 90s.
      - pjmlp 11y ago
        So what? The issue is legal not technical. Gosling was at Sun until the end. Sun just lacked the money to sue Google.
- justthistime_ 11y ago
  Use tools which translate from Java 8 to Java 6 bytecode and be careful to use only Java 8/7 classes? (IDEs help with that).

No, that was the first argument – android will soon be 3 versions behind Java, it already is using Java 6 compiled for Java 5 bytecode. The distance is getting worse with every day.

georgemcbay 11y ago
It also supports a couple of Java 7 features... but... I totally agree with your point here. This far past the Oracle lawsuit and the increasing divergence between "real Java" and "Android Java", it is actually kind of bizarre Google hasn't really presented any kind of useful guidance on what they plan to do moving forward (unless their plan is actually to just keep limping along with a gimped Java implementation indefinately). It is hard not to look at things like Swift and wish Google would make a similar push to update the "offical" Android language. Technically speaking, Kotlin is a great alternative, but without the sort of official blessing Swift has coming from Apple, for most developers it will be politically very difficult to get by the inertia that appears when suggesting you use a "non-standard" language, regardless of how interoperable it is technically. Outside of really lean startups you might as well be asking to write your app in brainfuck if it isn't going to be in Java.
- pjmlp 11y ago
  This is the proof that Sun was right all along and Google just played a Microsoft on them. Oracle might have chosen some dubious arguments, but the reality is that Google forked Java and doesn't have any will to improve developer's lifes. Before anyone replies how Jonathan praised Google, check Gosling history how things really went.
  - incepted 11y ago
    Gosling stopped all technical involvement with Java in the late 90s.
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      So what? The issue is legal not technical. Gosling was at Sun until the end. Sun just lacked the money to sue Google.
justthistime_ 11y ago
Use tools which translate from Java 8 to Java 6 bytecode and be careful to use only Java 8/7 classes? (IDEs help with that).