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I'm not sure why Google hasn't adopted Go as another supported language to develop on Android. It seems naturally and would expand the usage of the language.

ancarda 13y ago
Go 1.3 is going to target android/arm: http://talks.golang.org/2014/go1.3.slide#12 http://talks.golang.org/2014/go1.3.slide#12. I'm not sure if this will lead to a full blown SDK for Android.
- axaxs 13y ago
  Don't be mislead... this is just running on Android, which has long been possible. You still can't write/distribute a purely Go application in say, the play store.
- aray 13y ago
  Android runs on more than just arm -- anything supported by the platform needs to support MIPS and x86 as well.
  - yebyen 13y ago
    It does have support, but I've seen exactly one MIPS droid (a budget tablet called a 'Cruz' that had great battery life and terrible performance) and zero x86 androids (other than ones I put together for myself from android-x86.org). So, I wouldn't say it needs to support these platforms. Just that not supporting them would be a glaring omission.
- yla92 13y ago
  IMHO, it doesn't mean you can write for Android in go as much as you do in java.
eurleif 13y ago
Maintaining a Go wrapper for Android's Java APIs sounds non-trivial, and probably has security implications as well.
- tracker1 13y ago
  That was my first thought as well... it would be pretty trivial for the app to run a local web/socket service and for your front-end app to interface with it. If the UI isn't too complex your UI could be a simple web frame pointing to the local webserver.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    Git-Annex does something similar: it's a binary written in Haskell, which runs a webserver and then launches the browser pointing to it.
wyager 13y ago
IMHO, it's not really a good language for mobile development. It is great for the task it was designed for; web services and infrastructure. I can't think of any other area I would choose to use Go.
- axaxs 13y ago
  I initially agreed, but realize it's just because go hasn't been widely used in GUI development. With a proper SDK, there's nothing wrong with it in this role that I can think of. In full disclosure, I've not done Android development out of my distaste for Java, so I'd welcome it.
  - wyager 13y ago
    > but realize it's just because go hasn't been widely used in GUI development There are a lot more reasons than that. For one, Go has awful support for any kind of generic programming. The closest thing Go has to proper generic support is the interface{} type, which is awful. It's basically the same type safety as a 100% dynamically typed language (i.e. almost none), but with a much uglier syntax. A related issue is that Go isn't very extensible. For example, Go's iteration features only work on builtin types. You can't iterate over trees, graphs, sets, or any other non-builtin type. For me, the only good things that Go offers are decent threading primitives and good standard library support. Nothing else excels, and some things are downright bad.
    - oscargrouch 13y ago
      Dont know why just because of a negative critique, people have downvoted you.. so im doing justice and doing a upvote I might not agree with this comment, but at least his showing the reasons why he dont think Go is a good candidate for mobile development, and his opinion is technical backed I think this should be in some HN etiquette somewhere.. dont know why people are so sensitive when a comment is not to say something nice about something..
      - pkulak 13y ago
camus2 13y ago
> I'm not sure why Google hasn't adopted Go The same reason Dalvik is using Java, the pool of potential developpers. Java was definetly a smart choice, wether one likes the language or not. Furthermore android apps can be developped in C++ too.
Pxtl 13y ago
I assume the long-term plan is that PNaCl will be handling language-support issues and so directly adding Go language-support to Android isn't worthwhile since the work will be reproduced by PNaCl. Or it's just the usual problem that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Historically, Google hasn't been so hot at integrating their various projects together, their new round of consolidating crap into Google Plus and Hangouts is both recent and demonstrates that this isn't their field of expertise. I'm always shocked that Google doesn't throw even more resources behind Android. Android is well-positioned to take on Windows itself... but instead they juggle it and their Chrome platform and keep Android restricted to the tablet/phone space.

ancarda 13y ago

Go 1.3 is going to target android/arm: http://talks.golang.org/2014/go1.3.slide#12 http://talks.golang.org/2014/go1.3.slide#12. I'm not sure if this will lead to a full blown SDK for Android.

axaxs 13y ago
Don't be mislead... this is just running on Android, which has long been possible. You still can't write/distribute a purely Go application in say, the play store.
aray 13y ago
Android runs on more than just arm -- anything supported by the platform needs to support MIPS and x86 as well.
- yebyen 13y ago
  It does have support, but I've seen exactly one MIPS droid (a budget tablet called a 'Cruz' that had great battery life and terrible performance) and zero x86 androids (other than ones I put together for myself from android-x86.org). So, I wouldn't say it needs to support these platforms. Just that not supporting them would be a glaring omission.
yla92 13y ago
IMHO, it doesn't mean you can write for Android in go as much as you do in java.

eurleif 13y ago

Maintaining a Go wrapper for Android's Java APIs sounds non-trivial, and probably has security implications as well.

tracker1 13y ago
That was my first thought as well... it would be pretty trivial for the app to run a local web/socket service and for your front-end app to interface with it. If the UI isn't too complex your UI could be a simple web frame pointing to the local webserver.
- icebraining 13y ago
  Git-Annex does something similar: it's a binary written in Haskell, which runs a webserver and then launches the browser pointing to it.

wyager 13y ago

IMHO, it's not really a good language for mobile development. It is great for the task it was designed for; web services and infrastructure. I can't think of any other area I would choose to use Go.

axaxs 13y ago
I initially agreed, but realize it's just because go hasn't been widely used in GUI development. With a proper SDK, there's nothing wrong with it in this role that I can think of. In full disclosure, I've not done Android development out of my distaste for Java, so I'd welcome it.
- wyager 13y ago
  > but realize it's just because go hasn't been widely used in GUI development There are a lot more reasons than that. For one, Go has awful support for any kind of generic programming. The closest thing Go has to proper generic support is the interface{} type, which is awful. It's basically the same type safety as a 100% dynamically typed language (i.e. almost none), but with a much uglier syntax. A related issue is that Go isn't very extensible. For example, Go's iteration features only work on builtin types. You can't iterate over trees, graphs, sets, or any other non-builtin type. For me, the only good things that Go offers are decent threading primitives and good standard library support. Nothing else excels, and some things are downright bad.
  - oscargrouch 13y ago
    Dont know why just because of a negative critique, people have downvoted you.. so im doing justice and doing a upvote I might not agree with this comment, but at least his showing the reasons why he dont think Go is a good candidate for mobile development, and his opinion is technical backed I think this should be in some HN etiquette somewhere.. dont know why people are so sensitive when a comment is not to say something nice about something..
    - pkulak 13y ago

camus2 13y ago

> I'm not sure why Google hasn't adopted Go The same reason Dalvik is using Java, the pool of potential developpers. Java was definetly a smart choice, wether one likes the language or not. Furthermore android apps can be developped in C++ too.

Pxtl 13y ago

I assume the long-term plan is that PNaCl will be handling language-support issues and so directly adding Go language-support to Android isn't worthwhile since the work will be reproduced by PNaCl. Or it's just the usual problem that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Historically, Google hasn't been so hot at integrating their various projects together, their new round of consolidating crap into Google Plus and Hangouts is both recent and demonstrates that this isn't their field of expertise. I'm always shocked that Google doesn't throw even more resources behind Android. Android is well-positioned to take on Windows itself... but instead they juggle it and their Chrome platform and keep Android restricted to the tablet/phone space.