On 3/04/2015 1:40 a.m., Laeeth Isharc wrote:
Hi.
I am sure most of you saw this:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/googles-arc-opens-up-to-developers-runs-android-apps-on-most-desktop-oses/
Relates to the Google native client technology which caught attention a
while back (not all of it favourable - 'I thought we put a stake through
the Active-X vampire, and yet it returns') but seems to have gone quiet,
although in meantime as I understand it chrome store apps can be written
in C, C++, etc. It's just that nobody uses the chrome store.
There are potentially some benefits for light enterprise applications
(particularly from third party vendors) through not having to go through
the barrier of getting the user to receive IT approval for the
application, have them get around to installing it, reinstall when the
first time didn't work etc. But the shine off that is taken away by the
presentation problem of having your app show up in the same context as
some game for teens.
From a D perspective, native client seemed lots of work for little
tangible benefit, since it depends on a heavily modified compiler
toolchain. (It uses a restricted instruction set, a little more
restricted than originally as holes were found).
https://developer.chrome.com/native-client
https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc
The idea of being able to have your application run as native code for
speed and not have to work in two languages is appealing though.
So perhaps keeping an eye on the new development that allows any Android
app to be run on Chrome OS, Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (via a
conversion tool called ARC Welder).
As I understand it, DMD works more or less with Android/x86 (so
presumably this tool might be able to convert DMD applications to native
client so they run in the browser). When we have android support for
ARM, I guess it is feasible to write D apps that run in a browser on ARM
phones/tablets.
I have zero experience with ARM and Android development, so I may be
missing something. I will take Adam's advice on trying things and give
it a try if I get time.
Laeeth.
Might be an interesting little project to get D running on.
Probably only worth a small toy project.
