Here are a few reasons why Google chose Java for its Android operating systemAndroidSo why did Google choose Java over other programming languages
Android’s source code is released by Google under open source licenses, although most Android devices ultimately ship with a combination of open source and proprietary software, including proprietary software required for accessing Google services.
Android
Android is based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android’s user interface is mainly based on direct manipulation, using touch gestures that loosely correspond to real-world actions, such as swiping, tapping and pinching, to manipulate on-screen objects, along with a virtual keyboard for text input. The Android Apps and games, which are so popular among smartphone users are compiled by developers using the Android software development kit (SDK). This Android SDK is compiled using Java programming language. So, why Java?
So why did Google choose Java over other programming languages
The basic advantages of having Java programming language for Android SDKs is given below : In addition to above points, at the time of development of first version of Android, the available languages like Go and Rust werent exactly popular and quite niche programming languages, so prioritising native languages would’ve meant the Android development team going with C or C++. Go was used in the earlier versions of Android and found to have its limitations. Rust was smaller still, so betting Android’s whole OS’s development ecosystem on such a niche language would’ve been a bad idea. Even the most diehard of programmers and coders will agree that C and C++ are notoriously difficult to work with, and even very senior engineers make dangerous mistakes very often. This is the reason, Microsoft chose to develop its on .NET architecture, however developing a separate language for Android would not have been feasible for Google at that time. Also during the time the first Android version was being worked on, the JVM/CLR languages (i.e. the Java family and the C#/.NET family) were under ownership of Sun and Microsoft respectively. So it would not have been feasible for Google to use its ‘enemies’ programming language. Only after Oracle bought out Java and Google reached an understanding with Oracle that all proprietary issues were resolved. Java is an absolutely massive ecosystem, and you have an embarrassing wealth of both libraries and tooling available for it, which mitigates how mediocre the language itself is. Where Apple had home field advantage by using Objective C in iOS (with Obj-C being the primary language for OS X development), Google’s choice of Java meant not having to build that ecosystem from scratch. As seen above, Java was simply the best choice available at the time. Google has never officially commented on why it is using Java for Android SDKs but the above reasons are enough for Google and the Android team to back Java all the way.
