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I was surprised to learn that Android in 2016 doesn't even natively come with an equivalent of JavascriptCore. You have the pleasure of somehow getting V8 to ru

I was surprised to learn that Android in 2016 doesn't even natively come with an equivalent of JavascriptCore. You have the pleasure of somehow getting V8 to run and then serialize/deserialize all your native objects manually in order to talk to it if you want javascript outside the browser. Really? From the company that is the most web native around, and even developed the most common browserless JS runtime (V8)? Google's user faced architecture often just seems like an unmanaged jumbled up bunch of code that they throw at you, good luck have fun.

tmzt 10y ago
Take a look at https://github.com/appcelerator/tijscore https://github.com/appcelerator/tijscore it's a port of JavaScriptCore to android developed by Appcelerator for their Titanium product. It also includes a bridge between JS and native code.
fauigerzigerk 10y ago
Google doesn't have one single mind. There are lots of different people and groups within Google, and I don't think all of them are "web native". The Android team never seemed very close to the web at all.
eddieh 10y ago
I maintain my own fork of JSC that I use on Android. I've been focused on reducing its size and hope that it one day can be way smaller than it currently is. I managed to get it down to less than 800kB when compiled for ARM.
zeveb 10y ago
> I was surprised to learn that Android in 2016 doesn't even natively come with an equivalent of JavascriptCore. You have the pleasure of somehow getting V8 to run and then serialize/deserialize all your native objects manually in order to talk to it if you want javascript outside the browser. That's a little bit like saying that Chez Panisse doesn't even deliver sewage to your table, and that if you want to pour it over your food you need to bring your own chamber pot with you. Java is not a great language to program in, but if there's any language it is clearly better than, then that language is JavaScript. Why would one want to program an Android app in JavaScript rather than in Java? There's only one reason to use JavaScript: because one is deploying in a browser, and JavaScript is the only language supported by the vast, vast majority of browsers. In every other way, it's a misbegotten mistake of a language.
- m_mueller 10y ago
  The big reason: Cross platform compatibility. Not just between mobile platforms, but even between mobile devices and webservers. Our devices are so powerful now that you can run a full blown webserver on it if you choose your DB system wisely. That's why we use CouchDB - replace it with CBL on mobile and take your whole webapp with you for offline use. I'm Swiss - we have lots of tunnels ;-).

tmzt 10y ago

Take a look at https://github.com/appcelerator/tijscore https://github.com/appcelerator/tijscore it's a port of JavaScriptCore to android developed by Appcelerator for their Titanium product. It also includes a bridge between JS and native code.

fauigerzigerk 10y ago

Google doesn't have one single mind. There are lots of different people and groups within Google, and I don't think all of them are "web native". The Android team never seemed very close to the web at all.

eddieh 10y ago

I maintain my own fork of JSC that I use on Android. I've been focused on reducing its size and hope that it one day can be way smaller than it currently is. I managed to get it down to less than 800kB when compiled for ARM.

zeveb 10y ago

> I was surprised to learn that Android in 2016 doesn't even natively come with an equivalent of JavascriptCore. You have the pleasure of somehow getting V8 to run and then serialize/deserialize all your native objects manually in order to talk to it if you want javascript outside the browser. That's a little bit like saying that Chez Panisse doesn't even deliver sewage to your table, and that if you want to pour it over your food you need to bring your own chamber pot with you. Java is not a great language to program in, but if there's any language it is clearly better than, then that language is JavaScript. Why would one want to program an Android app in JavaScript rather than in Java? There's only one reason to use JavaScript: because one is deploying in a browser, and JavaScript is the only language supported by the vast, vast majority of browsers. In every other way, it's a misbegotten mistake of a language.

m_mueller 10y ago
The big reason: Cross platform compatibility. Not just between mobile platforms, but even between mobile devices and webservers. Our devices are so powerful now that you can run a full blown webserver on it if you choose your DB system wisely. That's why we use CouchDB - replace it with CBL on mobile and take your whole webapp with you for offline use. I'm Swiss - we have lots of tunnels ;-).