Is it a good practice to use JAVA 8 for android development?

Question

I read the instructions for using Java8 for android development from this answer and (orfjackal/retrolambda).

I wanted to know if it is a good practice to use this technique to implement Java 8. Does this affects the application performance?

It is mentioned in the blog- retrolambda It does this by transforming your Java 8 compiled bytecode so that it can run on an older Java runtime.

Unless this is some contract for a huge project, it doesn't really matter. Just use whatever java you want. — takendarkk, Aug 12 '15 at 11:48
Thanks for the help @Takendarkk. I think what you are saying is true. I will use it and see if it is stable enough for my application. Might not make huge difference but i hope it will certainly not reduce the application performance (*if i use properly*). — harsh_v, Aug 12 '15 at 20:06
@Harsh I used `retrolambda` it is working fine in android. Use java 8 stream library if you using some Java 8 APIs. — Anand Singh, Aug 13 '15 at 05:49
I've had the same question when I came to an existing Android project production that used Java 8. Now, 9 months later and no problems, I feel a lot better about using Java 8 in Android. — Alex Bravo, Sep 27 '15 at 19:19

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 12 '15 at 12:13

0

I think it is too early to say that use Java 8 is a good practice for android development, officially android needs the Java 6 JDK as mentioned at the bottom of this page: https://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html

Also, there are some Android APIs that even not support try with resources, so I don't think they'll support Java 8 at all.

answered Aug 12 '15 at 12:13

arodriguezdonaire

I read the link. But I can use java 8 through [orfjackal/retrolambda](https://github.com/orfjackal/retrolambda) I know officially android doesn't support it but what if we use Java 8 through the above method will it affect the performance? Or will it not create any significant difference or little difference? – harsh_v Aug 12 '15 at 19:53
It will be inestable, if you decide to use Java 8 be prepaired for some weird magic errors – arodriguezdonaire Aug 12 '15 at 19:54
Okay. Thanks for the help! – harsh_v Aug 12 '15 at 20:01
Hope I've been helpful! :) – arodriguezdonaire Aug 12 '15 at 20:02
I will use it and see how the result comes. – harsh_v Aug 12 '15 at 20:03
Share the experience if you can ;) – arodriguezdonaire Aug 12 '15 at 20:06
@Harsh : How it gone? Was this the solution for you? – arodriguezdonaire Oct 30 '15 at 23:10
So far so good. I can't judge whether it affected the performance in a good way but i haven't faced any issues. I love using lambda expressions. I have been using RxJava in some projects and I have to write lesser code. Specially with the inner classes gone, code looks much cleaner now. – harsh_v Oct 31 '15 at 02:21

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