Apple requires that iOS development be done in Objective-C. That single decision has led to Objective-C overtaking C++ in July in programming language rankings. Despite its increased popularity, Java is still more popular. That’s why Google has made a new translator for Java developers to easily translate their code into Objective-C for iOS development.
Google announced the release of J2ObjC yesterday. The new open-source translator allows developers to convert Java into Objective-C without any additional input from them. It’s being billed as an easier way to developer iOS applications for those who are not immediately familiar with Objective-C.
Of course, you’re still going to need to know some Objective-C for the UI elements of an iOS app. Google says that their translator is best suited for the translation of data access or application logic elements. To that end, they hope the translator will be used to build cross-platform apps that can be accessed by Android, iOS and the Web.
They do point out that J2ObjC is not a Java emulator, but rather converts Java classes to Objective-C classes. It includes support for the full Java 6 language and most client-side runtime features, including exceptions, generic types and reflection.
You can start playing around with the translator now at the project page. It’s completely open source so you can poke around inside the code to see how it works. You might even be able to make an even better code translator based off of Google’s already impressive work.
Work like this only convinces me that development is only going to get easier from here on out. People will soon be able to code in their native language and translate it to any other without any trouble.