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Android: The Land That Python Forgot

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Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#11

Post by pekk »

programminggeek wrote: post #3

You can replace Python in Ruby or Lua for the most part and also Android with iOS. Dynamic languages aren't yet a big deal and I think it's because they don't bind well or give you a significantly better developer experience than Objective-C or Java on these platforms do. RubyMotion is probably the closest I've seen to making a language like Ruby or Python a very compelling mobile developer experience while maintaini…

If you think Python is a worse Java then there is something important you have missed.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#12

Post by pekk »

It isn't that Python forgot Android, or Python developers don't care about mobile. It's that Google decided to base Android on the JVM and make Java the primary language for developing on the platform. There's nothing Python could have done about that.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#13

Post by Buttons840 »

rdtsc wrote: post #10

Just point out, this talk mentions: kivy -- A python kit for a portable, touch-focused UI that works on Android as well. I used to follow it initially but noticed the project seems to have slowed down. There haven't been as many releases lately. Anyone have more info on why that might be?

There have been a few dozen commits in the last week. It may have slowed down because the project reached many of it's objectives?

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#14

Post by chrisjrn »

eonil wrote: post #9
chrisjrn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty much exactly what python-on-android does; the problem is that you don't get access to any of the Java/Dalvik-based libraries, which includes all of the UI programming libraries.

Do you mean you want something like Mono's Xamarin in Python?

It's a possibility – Qt's there, and in fact Kivy is a pretty good solution.

The problem I raise in the talk is that such libraries will always lag behind the state of the art for Android GUIs, which makes them less attractive.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#15

Post by rdtsc »

Buttons840 wrote: post #13
rdtsc wrote: post #10

Just point out, this talk mentions: kivy -- A python kit for a portable, touch-focused UI that works on Android as well. I used to follow it initially but noticed the project seems to have slowed down. There haven't been as many releases lately. Anyone have more info on why that might be?

There have been a few dozen commits in the last week. It may have slowed down because the project reached many of it's objectives?

That makes sense, nothing wrong with that. I was thinking major refactoring or something like that.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#16

Post by petsagouris »

gcb1 wrote: post #8
programminggeek wrote: post #3

You can replace Python in Ruby or Lua for the most part and also Android with iOS. Dynamic languages aren't yet a big deal and I think it's because they don't bind well or give you a significantly better developer experience than Objective-C or Java on these platforms do. RubyMotion is probably the closest I've seen to making a language like Ruby or Python a very compelling mobile developer experience while maintaini…

Those languages does not focus on portability.

The main focus of Lua has been portability.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#17

Post by anandroiddev »

chrisjrn wrote: post #4

Ohai! I wrote the talk, and just want to let you know that you can watch it over at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p77BR6e1uoo --Chris

Great talk, thanks for posting it!

I really like how thoroughly you cover the problems with and potential work-arounds for using a non-Java language with Android. Your analysis applies to many other languages besides Python. I wonder if it would be worth making a language-neutral version of the talk.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#18

Post by lnanek2 »

mkonecny wrote: post #2

The first half of the deck is about what a smartphone is. You should cut those out and get to the subject matter.

Lots of times you are talking to people who have been writing enterprise/web stuff for decades and never dipped into mobile. Especially at a conference for a language that is pretty much not on mobile at all. I think it was appropriate.

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#19

Post by eonil »

chrisjrn wrote: post #14
eonil wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean you want something like Mono's Xamarin in Python?

It's a possibility – Qt's there, and in fact Kivy is a pretty good solution. The problem I raise in the talk is that such libraries will always lag behind the state of the art for Android GUIs, which makes them less attractive.

Ah I see. This is the old issue. Why wrapper layers have to be later than its source…

Re: Android: The Land That Python Forgot

#20

Post by raverbashing »

programminggeek wrote: post #3

You can replace Python in Ruby or Lua for the most part and also Android with iOS. Dynamic languages aren't yet a big deal and I think it's because they don't bind well or give you a significantly better developer experience than Objective-C or Java on these platforms do. RubyMotion is probably the closest I've seen to making a language like Ruby or Python a very compelling mobile developer experience while maintaini…

"write a Python compiler for iOS or Android to make it compelling, which means adding type checking"

No

PyPy is a (JIT) compiler for Python, no type checking addition needed.

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