No Java Required: Write Android Apps in C# -- Visual Studio Magazine

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No Java Required: Write Android Apps in C#

XobotOS is a Xamarin-developed project that translated millions of lines of Java to C#.
By Keith Ward 05/11/2012 Java is the underlying code for the Android OS. But one company has changed all that, ripping out most of the Java and replacing it with C#. That means .NET developers can code in a familiar language and produce apps that leverage C#'s advantages, including speed increases. It started as a skunkworks project for Xamarin. Xamarin's claim to fame is Mono, an open-source framework allowing Android and iOS apps to be built using C# running on top of Java. Now, with what the company calls the XobotOS Research Project, the Java layer has been removed via a "machine translation of Android from Java to C#," according to a blog post from Xamarin CTO Miguel de Icaza.

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Building XobotOS involved converting more than a million lines of Java code into C#, de Icaza wrote. A tool called Sharpen was used to help in the translation, and the project resulted in an improved version of Sharpen, de Icaza says. Most of Androids layouts and controls, de Icaza says, have been converted, and to demonstrate, the post includes a Java-free screenshot of XobotOS running on a Linux desktop. In terms of speed improvements, the blog includes a bar chart of a benchmark from a simple binary tree implementation in Java and C#. The chart shows a huge increase in performance between the two languages. Xamarin has made XobotOS available on github. de Icaza says that XobotOS won't be "a focus" going forward, as the company wants to put its efforts toward its core products, Mono for Android and MonoTouch. One other possible benefit of using XobotOS for Android development is that it would eliminate the kind of potential legal entanglements that Google finds itself in with Oracle, the patent-holder for Java. Replacing Java with C# would, of course, inoculate developers from the clutches of Oracle's lawyers. About the Author Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.
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http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2012/05/11/no-java-required-write-android-apps-i... 5/25/2012

No Java Required: Write Android Apps in C# -- Visual Studio Magazine

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READER COMMENTS:
FRI, MAY 25, 2012 JEEVAN SINGH BANGLAORE THU, MAY 24, 2012

Is it possible to make this technology platform independent

So lemme get this straight - you think replacing Java/Eclipse with C#/VS is going to work to your advantage? Obviously you haven't worked with both of these languages and environments. I need write Android Apps in C#

WED, MAY 23, 2012 NOMIS ARMENIA TUE, MAY 22, 2012 HANS HOLLEBRANDSE

Although I think this project is a good development, Java shouldn't be the thing to complain about. If you are a C# developer it is my experience that it is not a big deal to program in Java. The bad thing about the current Android development according my experience with Eclipse and the plug-ins for android, is that it all works buggy. Not only is working in Eclipse a big step back as a develop environment compared to visual studio, also the android emulator behaves often not always as it should, which leaves you often wasting time in finding problems that are untraceable. While this is a huge technical achievement, I don't see the practical value of what this gets you except the ability to program in c# rather than Java or Objective C. It's not "write once deploy on both platforms"; rather, you still need to worry about Layouts in Android and Storyboards in ios. "but .net isn't platform independent tha's big disadvantage. for this techanology is it possible to solve this issue" - In response to this. Java on Android isn't platform independent either. That is actually the whole reason Google is being sued by Oracle. If Android had remained in compliance with Java, they wouldn't have needed a license and there would be no lawsuit. but .net isn't platform independent tha's big disadvantage. for this techanology is it possible to solve this issue You should check out www.vsnomad.com - a VS extension for cross mobile platform development You don't need a OS ported to C# to write Android app in C#. See Mono for Android.

FRI, MAY 18, 2012 PAUL PERKINS ORLANDO, FL

FRI, MAY 18, 2012 ALEX C CANADA

FRI, MAY 18, 2012 RITESH PUNE

WED, MAY 16, 2012

TUE, MAY 15, 2012

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