> whereas the transition from Java 6 to later versions is proving to be next to impossible
I've never heard of anyone having issues going from Java 6 to later versions, at the language level or JVM level.
I've never heard of anyone having issues going from Java 6 to later versions, at the language level or JVM level.
Without community hacks.
Before I get the usual Sun CEO approved it reply:
http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/entry/my_attitude_on_oracle...
Second, at least on lambdas they could generate inner classes for older devices and update DEX format now that Dex is compiled AOT to native code. So only the compiler dex2aot would be required to be updated.
Currently there is zero public feedback on the new compiler chain (Jack & Jill), but from the sources it appears it is Java 6.5 all the way.
They have some unit tests that appear to be related to Java 8, but no one knows what is their idea.
In a few years (by Java 10 timeframe), according to the actual roadmap which might still change, Java will have modules, a JNI replacement, reifeid generics, value types, new array type, GPGPU support, AOT compiler....
If nothing changes, assuming Android 4.4 devices will be gone, the only change will be from Java 6.5 to Java 7, if Android's team attitude is to stay like it currently is.
But at least they spend time doing those stupid devbytes videos, doing continuous buggy releases of the support library and Google services.
Android Java is definitely the second coming of J++/J#.
Compiler to native code? aren't the big performance gains done in the JVM?
The majority of the commercial third party JVM vendors do offer AOT as part of their toolchain.
Similarly .NET always had a JIT/AOT model. The novelty with .NET Native is static compilation and integration of the Visual C++ backend.
I don't if this is true, but I read somewhere that AOT was tabu at Sun.
Oracle is now improving Java to cover the use cases where it still fails short vs other alternatives, so having an AOT compiler in the reference JDK instead of forcing devs to get it from a third party is part of their roadmap.
How it will look like in the end, it is not 100% clear.