The battle between Google and Oracle may finally be over, but let's face it, the relationship between Android developers and Java is still a rocky one. In this presentation I would like to look at the potential for Android development with a series of alternatives to Java, especially Go, Dart, Kotlin and Swift. I will introduce the languages, analyze their potential and what is achievable with them, seeing if any of them are viable alternatives to the Java behemoth.

1. Android without Java
DroidCon Greece
@chrischinch

3. *Does Not Include…
(And related)

5. The NDK (of doom)

6. C/C++
• Long established languages
• Very Common
• Reuse exisiting code
• Games, high processing

7. C/C++ With Android
• NDK
• JNI
• C/C++ can call Java
• Java can call C/C++

8. Demo

9. Go
• 2009, current 1.6.2
• Clean, Readable
• A ‘simpler’ C/C++

10. Why Go?
• Increasingly popular
• Networking,
Multiprocessing,
Concurrency
• Performant

11. Go with Android
go get golang.org/x/
mobile/cmd/gomobile
gomobile init
* go-review.googlesource.com/
#/c/24724/

12. Demo

13. Dart.js
• 2011, current 1.16
• General Purpose
• OOP, C-Style

14. Why Dart.js
• Cross-platform
• Performant
• Familiar Syntax
• Good Tooling

15. Dart.js with Android
• Using Flutter
• Dart VM
• C/C++, uses NDK

16. Demo

18. Thank You!
Chris Ward
gregariousmammal.com
@chrischinch
Developer Relations & Technical Writer
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