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RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

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Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#51

Post by e12e »

heavenlyhash wrote: post #46

I've successfully used RoboVM to ship native linux binaries from jvm bytecode, in addition to the headlining cross-platform-mobile features. It's fantastic. It worked pretty much out-of-box with a few commands from the Getting Started page. And as for performance: startup time is impressive: an order of magnitude faster than launching a jar in the jvm, such that you can actually use it in the middle of other shell sc…

Hm, seems documentation for for targeting Linux as a build target is missing? Or am I just looking in the wrong place?

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#52

Post by taspeotis »

tluyben2 wrote: post #12
kayoone wrote: post #6

Can anyone compare this to Xamarin in terms of features/stability/workflow ? Xamarin is .NET/C# which is arguably nicer than Java but its also not too cheap if you just want to play around with stuff.

It's unsure what is going to happen after the MS takeover though. I keep hoping for MS being nice for a bit :) What would we be without hope...

> MS takeover [citation needed]

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#53

Post by taspeotis »

kayoone wrote: post #6

Can anyone compare this to Xamarin in terms of features/stability/workflow ? Xamarin is .NET/C# which is arguably nicer than Java but its also not too cheap if you just want to play around with stuff.

> Xamarin is ... not too cheap if you just want to play around with stuff.

If you just want to play around then take note that the starter plans are free [1].

[1] https://store.xamarin.com/

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#54

Post by briantakita »

nolok wrote: post #8
talloaktrees wrote: post #5

I have just finished porting my Android game Superior Tactics ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.jrenner.su... ) to iOS using RoboVM. It's amazing to me that I can write my game completely in Java and get a performant AOT compiled version that runs on iOS. RoboVM really is amazing for indie game devs, and it's open source. I've already donated around $300 to the project. I've also done tests to see i…

> native UI concerns mean you can just publish the same thing to both Android and iOS That's a myth often seen in "deploy everywhere" mobile dev tools, in reality the design habits/guidelines between the two platforms have a lot of difference and you need a separate UI layer for each more often than not. Doesn't change the awesomeness of RoboVM, but it had to be said.

> the design habits/guidelines between the two platforms have a lot of difference and you need a separate UI layer for each more often than not

Phonegap is a great tool for writing code once (html5 & javascript) & deploying to many platforms with native capabilities.

I suspect it's not quite there for games, however it has great performance for most CRUD apps.

---

Re: RoboVM, I suspect there will be libraries that will properly use iOS-like UI. Some logic branches will be required, however the main flow is centralized and DRY.

---

There's also cross platform, openGL based tools. If you are making an openGL game, you minimize your need to use the native UI.

http://coronalabs.com/products/corona-sdk/

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#55

Post by tluyben2 »

taspeotis wrote: post #52
tluyben2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unsure what is going to happen after the MS takeover though. I keep hoping for MS being nice for a bit :) What would we be without hope...

> MS takeover [citation needed]

You are right! I read it (probably on HN) and assumed it was true. Now I see these are rumours. Many apologies.

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#57

Post by ballard »

Just in case anyone is wondering, it is possible to compile Java to native code without a VM. I had to write a Java to MIPS compiler in uni, once in C++ and again in Java. Painful and hard without the luxury of LLVM but doable.

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#58

Post by spullara »

e12e wrote: post #51
heavenlyhash wrote: post #46

I've successfully used RoboVM to ship native linux binaries from jvm bytecode, in addition to the headlining cross-platform-mobile features. It's fantastic. It worked pretty much out-of-box with a few commands from the Getting Started page. And as for performance: startup time is impressive: an order of magnitude faster than launching a jar in the jvm, such that you can actually use it in the middle of other shell sc…

Hm, seems documentation for for targeting Linux as a build target is missing? Or am I just looking in the wrong place?

I was wondering the same thing.

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#59

Post by heavenlyhash »

yoklov wrote: post #50
heavenlyhash wrote: post #46

I've successfully used RoboVM to ship native linux binaries from jvm bytecode, in addition to the headlining cross-platform-mobile features. It's fantastic. It worked pretty much out-of-box with a few commands from the Getting Started page. And as for performance: startup time is impressive: an order of magnitude faster than launching a jar in the jvm, such that you can actually use it in the middle of other shell sc…

I'm pretty sure the Boehm GC isn't heap compacting. It at least didn't used to be, and if it is it works in some way I cannot fathom, as I'm not sure how you can compact the heap without changing the value of pointers, which the Boehm GC cannot do safely. That said it's still a very good GC and you should be fine. (It does try to minimize fragmentation in other ways, but nothing is as effective as heap compacting.)

Niklas (the RoboVM lead dev) talked briefly about how the GC is used on the list here: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/robovm/etAxWMYvRTU/huXKmPA-J...

If I understand correctly, when used in "precise" mode, the Boehm GC is capable of compacting. Mono north of version 2.8 also claims to be heap compacting by virtue of Boehm in precise mode.

Re: RoboVM: Native iOS apps in Java

#60

Post by heavenlyhash »

e12e wrote: post #51
heavenlyhash wrote: post #46

I've successfully used RoboVM to ship native linux binaries from jvm bytecode, in addition to the headlining cross-platform-mobile features. It's fantastic. It worked pretty much out-of-box with a few commands from the Getting Started page. And as for performance: startup time is impressive: an order of magnitude faster than launching a jar in the jvm, such that you can actually use it in the middle of other shell sc…

Hm, seems documentation for for targeting Linux as a build target is missing? Or am I just looking in the wrong place?

Perhaps the docs don't highlight it enough, but I think you should find what you're looking for under http://www.robovm.com/docs#using-the-command-line-tool

It's actually what you get when building on linux with no special args: the default behavior is to produce a binary for the current operating system and architecture.

Thereafter, if you want to get fancier and target other specific systems, there are options for "-os", "-arch", and "-cpu"; you can find some description of them in the default usage help message from running `robovm` with no commands.

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