Oracle have proposed a new project to reinvigorate the state of mobile Java. If adopted by OpenJDK, the new Mobile Project will focus on porting OpenJDK to popular mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.
Bob Vandette, the proposed Lead for the new project confirmed that Oracle intend to make substantial IP contributions to this new Project, which would be based on OpenJDK 9, in a headless mode. The specifics include support for:
- The equivalent of Java 8's compact2 profile (but as Java 9 modules)
- iOS x64 and arm64 (arm64 via the Zero no-assembly pure C++ interpreter)
- Android x86 and arm (32-bit with JIT enabled)
- Windows 10 x64 Surface Pro
- JavaLauncher helper interface (to simplify including Java in Mobile applications)
Oracle plans on contributing the build system, along with the Hotspot and JDK source changes required to target mobile platforms. The announcement seems to indicate that Oracle would include the ability to produce static Java runtimes, as iOS has restrictions on certain types of dynamic code transformations that are commonly performed by Java runtimes.
This proposal still has to be ratified by the eligible voting members of OpenJDK, but seems to have support in early voting. Whilst many industry commentators had assumed that mobile Java meant either Android or the declining JavaME technologies, this announcement shows that Oracle still believe that they can find a market for "real" Java on modern mobile platforms.
/filters:no_upscale()/sponsorship/topic/2c0d72d2-1768-47c2-8f5b-24f3ef0ae0e0/QconNYrsb-1679560094156.png)
/presentations/tools-native-cross-platform/en/smallimage/sebastianopoggi-s-1677834787565.jpg)
/presentations/google-flutter-cross-platform/en/smallimage/Karsten Silz-s-1673274275960.jpg)
/minibooks/jhipster-mini-book-7/en/smallimage/logo-1677849630224.jpg){kind=logo}
/articles/billions-messages-minute/en/smallimage/LOGO-1679471830613.jpg){kind=logo}
/presentations/java-compiler-intermediate-representation/en/smallimage/chris_seaton-s-1679038354209.jpg)
/articles/series-apache-kafka-streams/en/smallimage/apache-kafka-article-series-logo-small-1673455781546.jpg){kind=logo}
/presentations/jfr-observability/en/smallimage/Ben Evans-s-1675024642432.jpg)
/minibooks/2022-infoq-trends-reports/en/smallimage/LOGO-1672051527011.jpg){kind=logo}
/articles/secure-kafka-cluster-strimzi/en/smallimage/securing-a-kafka-cluster-in-kubernetes-using-strimzi-small-1671647644310.jpg)
/articles/graalvm-java-compilers-openjdk/en/smallimage/small-image-jdk-2023-1671096273181.jpg)
/articles/java-jvm-trends-2022/en/smallimage/InfoQ-Trends-Report-small-1670863712433.jpeg)
/presentations/java-shared-memory-files/en/smallimage/peter-lawrey-s-1669107216422.jpg)
/articles/josh-long-spring-6/en/smallimage/logo-1669141674434.jpg){kind=logo}
/presentations/devops-java-devs/en/smallimage/Ix-chel Ruiz-s-1669107288266.jpg)
/presentations/java-upgrade-path/en/smallimage/Andrzej Grzesik-s-1667476313077.jpg)
/presentations/log4shell-security/en/smallimage/Simon-maple-s-1665986617483.jpg)
/presentations/loom-java-concurrency/en/smallimage/Tomasz Nurkiewicz-s-1665739004716.jpg)
/presentations/jit-aot-tradeoffs/en/smallimage/qcon-plus-s-1665738630666.jpeg)
/articles/shift-left-api-standardization/en/smallimage/GettyImages-1059510610-1664896147152.jpg)
/articles/strimzi-the-gitops-way/en/smallimage/strimzi-gitops-small-logo-1664297048552.jpg){kind=logo}
/articles/ci-cd-observability/en/smallimage/logo-1679470476672.jpg){kind=logo}
Community comments
Too late !
by Nam Tu,
Re: Too late !
by Ant hony,
Re: Too late !
by Nam Tu,
great
by Rüdiger Möller,
Re: great
by Ant hony,
Too late !
by Nam Tu,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
Too late ! From Sun with project Semplice to Oracle with Mobile Java. They must start from beginning of 2014.
Re: Too late !
by Ant hony,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
Instead of shouting, it'd be good if you'd give some actual argumentation as to why you think it's too late.
In my opinion, this project, combined with JavaFXPorts for GUI support & bindings to the native APIs, is a killer combination.
Re: Too late !
by Nam Tu,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
Oracle should form a strategic alliance with Google to enhance Java on Android, since it becomes de-facto of Android programming. Instead of doing that, they sued Google to share benefit. I am not deny that Java 8 is what people expect, but they should invest to mobile Java sooner. What they did is release JavaFX with a promise that they will put it on mobile platforms when they see fit. JavaFX runs on iOS by RoboVM and runs on Android by JavaFXPorts, but those efforts are come from other developers who love and want to see Java runs on mobile platform. Does Oracle provide any support for them ? I don't know but I don't think it has any. IMO, they wait for sign from market since M$ does the contrary: they bring .NET to every platforms and port Objective-C to Windows with WinObjC project. Oracle should run this project (Mobile Java) at last year, not this year since we already see the rise of Javascript on every aspects: web, mobile .. and strong investment of M$ to open-source market.
Btw at this moment, Java can run on multi mobile platforms thanks to Gluon:
gluonhq.com/open-source/javafxports/
gluonhq.com/open-source/javafxports/downloads/
Do we need something call "standard mobile Java" from Oracle ?
great
by Rüdiger Möller,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
despite somewhat bad press, in my view oracles java strategy has been quite reasonable, dropping legacy tech such as jee in favour of fresh approaches on core technology. A golang alike self contained java-binary compiler has been requested for a long time and is very useful in various scenarios. Given that google struggles to build a Java VM on par with hotspot performance and featureset (still no java 8 on android), this is a smart move imo.
Its never too late for excellence.
Re: great
by Ant hony,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
Ok...and where did you get the nonsense that Oracle is "dropping legacy tech such as jee"? From the same "former high-ranking Java official" on which the nonsense on InfoWorld is based?