This is just some idle speculation on my part, and should not be considered as having any authority whatsoever.
Android to support alternative to Java
For some time, I have thought it must sit a little awkward with Google having Java so firmly entrenched in Android. Of course Google bought Android, so the original decision to use Java was not theirs, but have they considered moving away from it?
That would be a huge task. A number of things would need to be put in place before that could be considered. The development tools would have to be able to use the new language, and the runtime engine will have to be flexible enough to use the ne language as well as support the existing Java written apps.
Google have recently previewed a new IDE called Android Studio. Would this be better suited to supporting different languages?
With the recent introduction of Android 4.4, there is now the option to use an alternative runtime to Dalvik. ART. It would make sense to me that this would be an ideal opportunity to include the possibility of having an alternative programming language to Java.
As I said before, this is just speculation, but I really do wonder if by the time Android 5.0 comes out, will we be able to use something other than Java to write applications for android phones SDK? I know that is possible now with the NDK but that does not count!
