Are there plans to develop a golang version of Android?
Note that it is possible to compile Go to both JavaScript and WASM. I've use the WASM support to build an application that work across all modern browsers. (incl. modern mobile browsers)
The way I do it is that I load the Go program in a background worker, I then use a channel to talk to the Go program as it was an API running locally. My primary reason for doing so was to leverage some of the functionality in the standard library, specifically, the cryptographic APIs.
I see there's an Android 9 (Go edition) version. But it looks like it's just more Java with Golang bindings
No. Android Go is a line of Android apps designed for use on low-end Android devices. Android Go has nothing to do with:
- the Go programming language
- the Go strategy board game
- the Go square on a traditional Monopoly board
- etc.
I've looked around a bit but I can't find a discussion about a version of Android built directly from golang source code and little or no Java.
That is because it does not exist.
Here is a wiki with clear steps to achieve compiling a golang app and installing onto android
https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/Mobile
The toy android app shows an animated triangle which follows your touch as it moves about ... this actually worked when I discovered above wiki I believe from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9875886 To quote their wiki
The Go mobile subrepository adds support for mobile platforms (Android and iOS) and provides tools to build mobile applications.
There are two strategies you can follow to include Go into your mobile stack:
- Writing all-Go native mobile applications.
- Writing SDK applications by generating bindings from a Go package and invoke them from Java (on Android) and Objective-C (on iOS).
Writing golang for mobile can be like writing c++ for mobile - great for writing firmware level servers say for HLS (http-live-streaming) which live below any app to which apps make calls to