Swapping the language out is probably the smaller part of the problem. The dependency that every application has on the Java-based runtime libraries are the bigger problem.
> Heck, I'd probably just be grabbing something like Go and throwing 10 pHDs at it.
Go already has a working ARM code generator, so you could potentially skip the Dalvik step completely and ship native code. I think you'd still need to put some effort into building a set of Android libraries for Go though.
Further, Google as a company seems to have drunk the Java Kool-Aid (e.g., Closure compiler is written in Java, GWT uses Java as source language, and I hear Java is one of the three "blessed" languages (others being C++ and Python)). Personally, I think C++ would have been a better choice for the first project, and Python for the second one.
It's highly unlikely they're going to stop using Java on Android.
This is already pretty clear; you can run Lua, Scala, Javascript, Scheme, Ruby, and many other languages on Dalvik.
A "JVM" is not a Java language interpreter anyway but a Java byte code interpreter. AFAIK all those other languages only run on Dalvik by first being compiled to Java byte code format, thus it is arguable that they are all "Java" as far as the VM goes.
What Google needs is something that compiles directly to Dalvik's own native format which has no "Java" at all in the pipeline.
You seem to think the JVM bytecode format is specific to the Java Programming Language™; why is this?
Admittedly Sun has muddled things up here by using the word "Java" to mean many separate things.
1) impolite. 2) your comments should concentrate on what you can add to the convo, not what others haven't.
I mean, it also doesn't help that your statement was incorrect (P-system as mentioned), but being rude in what is ideally a civil forum dedicated to a stated purpose is not helpful.
Reading comprehension, bro. Give it a try.
The Dalvik VM, like the Java Virtual Machine, is quite capable of running languages that aren't Java. There's nothing controversial or incorrect about that statement.
This would help them in many many ways. Firstly it would demonstrate to the courts that Dalvik is not specifically a Java VM. This clears them of several legal challenges (still leaving some).
Secondly and more importantly, it would up the stakes with Oracle tremendously. Having Google actually abandon Java on Android due to legal concerns would be a huge blow to Java. Especially if Google did so in a way that enabled existing Java applications to be ported easily (by adopting the Apache Harmony libraries, utilizing their existing dexer to enable people to run their existing Java code while picking up Google's replacement language for new code). They'd have to work around any patent violations in the VM which might have some performance impact but I'd still assume it is possible.
It would basically change the game to a lose-lose proposition for Oracle - win the court case, get some money, but lose Java. Lose the court case, effectively still lose control of Java.