droidconIN 2015

I don’t like Java. You probably don’t like Java much either. Come and find out how you might be able to avoid writing Java for your next Android app!

Outline

Most Android development is done using Java. In fact, Android uses Java 7 at the latest, which is now two full releases behind what JVM developers are using. I don’t like Java much, you probably don’t like Java much either. But it seems like we’re stuck with it. Or are we?

This talk looks at how the Android development stack seems to force Java upon us from a technical perspective, and looks at why some of the nicer new JVM languages aren’t quite there yet for Android.

Then, we’ll have a look at some options for writing native Android app code in other languages. Some of them are not a big change from Java itself, some are a big difference. Some are ready for use in production, some are a long way off.

Come and find out how you might be able to avoid writing Java for your next Android app!

Speaker bio

Christopher is an programmer who lives in the Tasmanian city of Hobart. He currently works as an Android developer, which means his day job involves more Java than he would like. He is strongly interested in developing the Australian and International Python communities: he is director of linux.conf.au 2017, a past convenor of PyCon Australia, a board member of Linux Australia, and has been a fellow of the Python Software Foundation since 2013.

In his spare time, he enjoys presenting on Mobile development at Open Source conferences, and presenting on Open Source development at Mobile conferences.