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Could you clarify the point on Android and copyright issues? At least at the time in 2017 when Google blessed Kotlin as an officially supported language, it see

Could you clarify the point on Android and copyright issues? At least at the time in 2017 when Google blessed Kotlin as an officially supported language, it seemed like the reasoning was Kotlin was far more ergonomic than Java. How does copyright come into this?

alcidesfonseca 6y ago
Oracle suited Google for copying the APIs (not the implementation) of the Java standard APIs. It all started in 2010 [0] Kotlin was Google's backup if the suit went Oracle's way. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_....
- blacktriangle 6y ago
  I guess given the recent court ruling we should see if Google sticks with Kotlin as a hedge, sticks with Kotlin because the community has embraced it, or pulls away from Kotlin as a no longer needed source of extra work.
  - jcadam 6y ago
    It's Google. They'll probably come up with a completely new programming language which they'll force on the community in some ham fisted way, then suddenly drop it in a few years when they can't figure out a way to massively monetize it.
    - mhoad 6y ago
      I thought that was Dart. Which is honestly a shame because it’s a genuinely great language. But it does very much fit the bill otherwise
      - cutler 6y ago
        Not really. Dart is single-threaded which was a mistake Google made in trying to keep it JS-compatible. If Dart had been multi-threaded from the start it might have stood a chance.
      - blacktriangle 6y ago
        Dart always stuck me as a solution looking for a problem, particularly in lite of more recent progress in JS itself. Can I ask why you think its a genuinely great language worth looking at?
- pvorb 6y ago
  I'm no expert in the Android ecosystem, but I think it was primarily a good choice for giving devs features they wanted to have while the underlying runtime and standard library got stuck at Java 6. The reason why they are still on Java 6 might have to do with the law suit, though.

alcidesfonseca 6y ago

Oracle suited Google for copying the APIs (not the implementation) of the Java standard APIs. It all started in 2010 [0] Kotlin was Google's backup if the suit went Oracle's way. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_....

blacktriangle 6y ago
I guess given the recent court ruling we should see if Google sticks with Kotlin as a hedge, sticks with Kotlin because the community has embraced it, or pulls away from Kotlin as a no longer needed source of extra work.
- jcadam 6y ago
  It's Google. They'll probably come up with a completely new programming language which they'll force on the community in some ham fisted way, then suddenly drop it in a few years when they can't figure out a way to massively monetize it.
  - mhoad 6y ago
    I thought that was Dart. Which is honestly a shame because it’s a genuinely great language. But it does very much fit the bill otherwise
    - cutler 6y ago
      Not really. Dart is single-threaded which was a mistake Google made in trying to keep it JS-compatible. If Dart had been multi-threaded from the start it might have stood a chance.
    - blacktriangle 6y ago
      Dart always stuck me as a solution looking for a problem, particularly in lite of more recent progress in JS itself. Can I ask why you think its a genuinely great language worth looking at?
pvorb 6y ago
I'm no expert in the Android ecosystem, but I think it was primarily a good choice for giving devs features they wanted to have while the underlying runtime and standard library got stuck at Java 6. The reason why they are still on Java 6 might have to do with the law suit, though.