Interest in this seems pretty high. I wonder ... does the official Android team have any interest in getting dynamic languages running on Dalvik? The ability to code in Python, Ruby, Groovy, Scala, etc seems like it could do *amazing* things for Android and multiple the number of Android developers.
Also, some of these languages (Ruby, in particular) are *great* for writing DSLs - a DSL for making Android apps could be spectacular. Anyway, I'm replying with some resource that relate to this topic incase someone else is interested, etc. This Sun blog post mentions why dynamic languages currently won't run on Dalvik, http://blogs.sun.com/jrose/entry/with_android_and_dalvik_at, saying "Something like the dx tool can be forced into the phone, so that Java code could in principle continue to generate bytecodes, yet have them be translated into a VM-runnable form. But, at present, Java code cannot be generated on the fly. This means Dalvik cannot run dynamic languages (JRuby, Jython, Groovy). Yet. (Perhaps the dex format needs a detuned variant which can be easily generated from bytecodes.)" This guy posted what happened when he tried getting JRuby running on Android: http://amazing-development.com/archives/2007/12/14/jruby-on-android/ Here are other Google Group posts on other google groups that are also curious about the status of running dynamic languages on Android / Dalvik - watch them for updates or, if someone posts updates here, you might want to let these other threads know as well: "Java/Ruby Support" http://groups.google.com/group/phoenix-android/browse_thread/thread/6e254dcdf738f5df "How about jython and jruby?" http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/89a92e114f3df423/206c28cf2eba3ecf "JRuby integration" http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/b55819a71162eb1d/1a913cb2f172ebac This thread* mentions linking the C implementations of Ruby / Python ... I wonder if that's the right route to take, instead? Could bindings & bridges let us develop Android apps in pure Ruby or Python, etc? In my mind, I would want to try supporting Java VM languages first, because those should 'just work' once you get the dynamic bytecode generation ... or something ... working. * http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/89a92e114f3df423/206c28cf2eba3ecf On Oct 23, 12:27 am, remi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm not to Android development - got my G1 today, like many other > developers. I'm a professional Ruby developer (with previous Java > experience) and I'm working ... what is the status of writing Android > applications in other Java languages that compile to typical Java > bytecode (likeJRuby, Jython, etc)? > > ( there's nothing wrong with plain vanilla Java, but I would be *very* > interested in developing open-source Ruby libraries to lower the bar > to entry for Android, for Ruby developers ... I'm sure the same goes > for Python developers, etc ) > > Thanks! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Beginners" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-beginners?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
