Scripting Layer for Android
The Scripting Layer for Android (abridged as SL4A, and previously named Android Scripting Environment or ASE) is a library that allows the creation and running of scripts written in various scripting languages directly on Android devices.[1][2][3][4] SL4A is designed for developers and is still alpha quality software,[5] with its main branch no longer being under active development.[6] As of January 2016, other developers have forked the SL4A code to enable it to run on Android Lollipop and Android Marshmallow after development on the main code branch stopped, for example the kuri65536 branch of SL4A[7] and droid-python.[8]
Original author(s) | Damon Kohler |
---|---|
Repository | |
Written in | C and Java |
Operating system | Android |
Type | Library |
License | Apache License 2.0 |
Website | github |
These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to normal Java Android applications, but with a simplified interface. Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, or in the background using the Android services architecture. Currently supported languages are:
- Python using CPython
- Perl
- Ruby using JRuby
- Lua
- BeanShell
- JavaScript using Rhino
- Tcl
- Rexx using BRexx
SL4A was first announced by Google in June 2009, and was originally named "Android Scripting Environment" (ASE). It is, however, not an official Google product, even though many of its developers have worked for Google.[6] It was originally developed by Damon Kohler, and has grown through the contributions of many developers.[9][10]
See also
- Termux
- Kivy (framework)
References
- "Scripting Comes to Android". O'Reilly Media. 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
- "Scripting Comes to Android". 2009-06-08. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
- "Android Gets Scripting Support with Python, Lua, Beanshell; Ruby planned". infoq.com. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
- "Python, Lua and BeanShell: Google's New Android Scripting". Linux Magazine. 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- "android-scripting". SL4A project. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
SL4A is designed for developers and is still alpha quality software
- "sl4a/README.md at master · damonkohler/sl4a". GitHub. 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
- "kuri65536 sl4a on GitHub". kuri65536. 2016-01-09.
- "droid-python on GitHub". ainsophical. 2015-10-19.
- Ferrill, Paul (2011). Pro Android Python with SL4A. p. 4. ISBN 9781430235699.
- Barry, Paul (April 30, 2011). "Python for Android". Linux Journal (203).