Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
AIs Android just a linux kernel that starts up a java VM?
|
Google bought in Android. Weirdly Sun licenced full Desktop Java at Free and phones, PDAs (early tablets) were ONLY allowed to take a paid licence for cut-down somewhat crippled Mobile version of Java. Android used full Desktop Java. But Desktop Java wasn't permitted for mobile devices. Weird.
Google bought it because Symbian, not iOS was #1 (iPhone was just new). Many Symbian developers used Mobile Java. Instant potential for Android Apps!
Google then started negotiating with Sun for Desktop Java licence for Android. Then Oracle bought Sun. This resulted in forks of Open Office to Libre Office and Hudson to Jenkins.
MS had already tried forking Java to J++ when Sun owned it and lost the court case, so they morphed J++ to C#. Both used/Use a variation of the VM that Visual Basic used, now part of .Net.
So Google did their own version of Java VM called Davik.
They then later had a new Java like programming language for the VM.
So yes Android is using a fork of the Linux Kernel with essentially a fork of Desktop Java instead of Symbian, S60 and Mobile Java.
All the modern VMs that execute
portable intermediate code are based on or inspired by the UCSD p-machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-code_machine
Though p stood for pseudo back then. I learnt programming on UCSD system booted on an Apple II.
Not sure if the Oracle - Google court cases regarding JVM, Davik, APIs, Java etc are over.
Google knew Android was breaking the rules when they bought it, but probably could have done a deal eventually with Sun. Oracle's purchase of Sun has been bad for every one using any Sun stuff.