Android 13 has new features for developers, including an update to Java, some of which will also be coming to older versions of Android.
Android 13 has some fantastic new features for developers, including an update to the core Java libraries, some of which will also be coming to older versions of Android. For the last few years, Google has been actively working on Project Mainline, an effort to separate core components of Android from the yearly update cycle. Instead, these have been separated out into modules which can be delivered via the Google Play Store, breathing new life into older versions of Android. Meanwhile, Android app developers have long been able to take advantage of the Jetpack suite of libraries. In addition to offering simple convenience, Google will, where possible, backport modern Android APIs to older versions so that developers can focus on making their apps better. These possibilities for features to be available across new and old devices is becoming more relevant than before for developers with the announcement of Android 13, which will simply serve as the debut for some upcoming features. The one change likely to affect the most mobile developers is that with Android 13, Google is bringing Android’s implementation of Java more in line with OpenJDK 11. This comes with a suite of new methods for working with strings, arrays, and optionals. Java 11 will also allow for less boilerplate in code, as developers can type “var” when declaring a variable and let the compiler infer the type automatically. Google has laid out some of the details of what to expect from using the enhancements of OpenJDK 11 in Android. Excitingly, these changes will also become available to Android 12 devices in the near future, thanks to a major update to the Android Runtime (ART) module, set to arrive through a Play Store System Update.
