3

I'm interested in getting started with Android development and would like to use a Lisp-style language. However, I want something that won't limit me if I choose to write a complex app, so it also needs to have reasonable performance, executable size and startup times. This limits my choices to languages that compile to JVM bytecode that have Android support.

Clojure (Neko)

This would be my first choice because of Clojure's expressiveness, but I have heard that it has problems with slow startup times and poor performance on Android. However, the threads that I came across are quite old so I'd be interested to know if things have improved since then.

Scheme (Kawa)

I came across this option here. Scheme is a nice language, so this option is appealing but it looks like the Android specific libraries it provides may be somewhat minimal. Of course, one could always call the Java libraries from Scheme.

I'd be interested to hear about any experiences with using the above languages (or other lisps for that matter) on Android. Thanks!

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Qudit
  • 472
  • 4
  • 14
  • 2
    You could also consider [ClojureScript with react-native](http://cljsrn.org/), which from my perspective looks like a better option right now than ClojureJVM on Dalvik. – Joost Diepenmaat May 27 '16 at 07:35
  • That looks like an interesting option and being cross platform is a nice bonus. I'd be curious to know the details of why you prefer it over Clojure. – Qudit May 27 '16 at 07:43
  • 1
    I recommend checking out the 4clojure app on the play store, which was written in neko. You can also find the source on github here: https://github.com/alexander-yakushev/foreclojure-android – Adam Lee May 28 '16 at 04:38
  • 1
    I'm not sure how useful it is but there is page about compiling [racket for android](http://www.wedesoft.de/racket-on-android.html). It doesn't run on JVM but native. – Sylwester Jun 01 '16 at 23:14
  • 1
    Although the question is about Clojure and Kawa, have you checked [Lambda native](http://www.lambdanative.org/)? It's based on Gambit scheme and targets several platforms. – nvlass Jun 04 '16 at 05:28
  • I was unaware of it but it looks interesting! Have you used it to create any Android apps? – Qudit Jun 04 '16 at 12:20

0 Answers0