I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to choose D for this if it is mature enough.

What is the D progress on the android?

I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of information:

http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1

On Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 06:13:17 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
> I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to choose D for this if it is mature enough.
>
> What is the D progress on the android?
>
> I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of information:
>
> http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1

I guess that means none... :/

On Friday, 29 March 2013 at 06:35:10 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
>
> I guess that means none... :/

Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of focus on ARM platforms; people are too busy improving the language and tools to work on standard PC hardware. The DMD compiler definitely won't work for Android development, but I'm pretty sure that GDC can be compiled for ARM output, and I think LDC has that capability as well. You'd probably need to write your own linkscripts, and the runtime would definitely have to be modified.

On Friday, 29 March 2013 at 07:02:24 UTC, BLM768 wrote:
> On Friday, 29 March 2013 at 06:35:10 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
>>
>> I guess that means none... :/
>
> Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of focus on ARM platforms; people are too busy improving the language and tools to work on standard PC hardware. The DMD compiler definitely won't work for Android development, but I'm pretty sure that GDC can be compiled for ARM output, and I think LDC has that capability as well. You'd probably need to write your own linkscripts, and the runtime would definitely have to be modified.

Being able to codegen is easy. But the runtime needs to follow, and that another issue altogether.

On Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 06:13:17 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
> I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to choose D for this if it is mature enough.
>
> What is the D progress on the android?
>
> I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of information:
>
> http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1

That is one of dark sides of comunity-driven development. Techincally, it is possible: at least GDC can do ARM code gen, there is nothing inherently blocking the port in language design. What is required is that someone will actually take his time to port druntime and test everything. And that supposes some substantial time investments from someone both familiar with druntime and interested in Android dev. Looks like no such person exist so far.

Am 29.03.2013 07:35, schrieb js.mdnq:
> On Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 06:13:17 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
>> I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to
>> choose D for this if it is mature enough.
>>
>> What is the D progress on the android?
>>
>> I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of
>> information:
>>
>> http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1
>
> I guess that means none... :/

Some time ago there was a post on the newsgroup of someone that had a working GDC which would output ARM binaries and he even converted the most important parts of druntime to work for android to. But unfortunately I can't remember where that was.

Kind Regards
Bejamin Thaut

On 28.03.2013 07:13, js.mdnq wrote:
> I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to
> choose D for this if it is mature enough.
>
> What is the D progress on the android?
>
> I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of
> information:
>
> http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1

Please note that native development in Android has a second class status.

Support is only available as a means to bring "legacy" C and C++ code to
the platform.

The few Android APIs available to languages outside the Dalvik world are actually wrappers around JNI calls.

--
Paulo

On 03/29/2013 02:32 AM, Benjamin Thaut wrote:
> Am 29.03.2013 07:35, schrieb js.mdnq:
>> On Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 06:13:17 UTC, js.mdnq wrote:
>>> I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to
>>> choose D for this if it is mature enough.
>>>
>>> What is the D progress on the android?
>>>
>>> I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of
>>> information:
>>>
>>> http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1
>>
>> I guess that means none... :/
>
> Some time ago there was a post on the newsgroup of someone that had a
> working GDC which would output ARM binaries and he even converted the
> most important parts of druntime to work for android to. But
> unfortunately I can't remember where that was.
>
> Kind Regards
> Bejamin Thaut

I haven't tried it myself but there is this information:

  http://gdcproject.org/wiki/Cross%20Compiler/crosstool-NG

Ali

> Some time ago there was a post on the newsgroup of someone that had a working GDC which would output ARM binaries and he even converted the most important parts of druntime to work for android to. But unfortunately I can't remember where that was.

Johannes Pfau has a GDC fork with Android support here:
https://github.com/jpf91/GDC/tree/android

and build scripts that build NDK with D support here:
https://github.com/jpf91/gdc-android-scripts

On Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:45:33 +0100
Paulo Pinto <pjmlp@progtools.org> wrote:

> On 28.03.2013 07:13, js.mdnq wrote:
> > I would like to get into writing apps for android and would like to choose D for this if it is mature enough.
> >
> > What is the D progress on the android?
> >
> > I see that at least others are interested but not finding a ton of information:
> >
> > http://forum.dlang.org/thread/20120204203109.26c9a80b@jpf-laptop?page=1
> 
> Please note that native development in Android has a second class status.
> 
> Support is only available as a means to bring "legacy" C and C++ code to the platform.
> 
> The few Android APIs available to languages outside the Dalvik world are actually wrappers around JNI calls.
> 

That's actually something that's been rolling around in my head for months, and now that it's brought up again, I have to just go ahead and say it:

What...the *FUCK* is Google thinking???

How is it *possible* that the one company in the word that's been known, more than any other, for recruiting as many of the supposedly best and brightest developers in the world as they possibly can, portrayed by approximately...everyone in the world...as being practically a developer's utopia, with nary a pointy-hair in sight, and the streets paved with latte, can be so incredibly dumb as to decide "Hey, let's make our system API be *JVM-only* (ok, "JVM-knockoff", whatever, like it even matters) and marginalize native in general, and shit all over the idea of being anything more than halfway Posix"?? Even *Apple* isn't that goddamn stupid, for crap's sakes, and *Apple* was never a developer's company, it was run by a dicatoring *salesman*! A drugged-out fucking *salesman* for fuck's sakes, and even *they* didn't botch things up *that* badly!

Not only that, but this is the same - apparently schizophrenic - company that's been trying to push the *Google* **NATIVE** **CLIENT**, ie NaCl!!

[Just insert a mental image right here of Lewis Black's trademark freak-out saying "What...the...FUUUCK?!?']

Sheesh.

Sorry, had to get it outta my system...