Top all-time · #3889
Codename One
Company blog · codenameone.com/blogprogrammingweb
Codename One is the company blog at codenameone.com, writing about programming and web. Since 2012, 20 different Hacker News readers have linked it 72 times, most often “Java for iPhone”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 0 of 31 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link Codename One, an open-source Java framework for building cross-platform mobile apps, usually as an alternative to Flutter, Xamarin or RoboVM. The links are mostly to the product site and its comparison posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 31 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Full-stack Java, compiled to native code. Share models from UI to server, bring Android apps to more platforms, and compare performance with HotSpot, Spring and Go.
Most-linked posts?
- Java for iPhone5 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2012-07-26
- /3 people · 16 mentions · first linked 2015-05-11
- Write Once Run Anywhere native mobile apps3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-01-23
- /2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-11-24
- Write once, run anywhere2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-06-16
- JavaScript is immature compared to Java2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-08-27
- Java for Mobile – iOS, Android, Windows2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-07-28
- JavaScript, GROW UP2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-08-24
- Why Java Is Fast and Objective-C Is Slow2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-05-20
- Oracle, please fix JavaFX2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-11-19
What Hacker News says?
For mobile all of these don't apply. The mobile version of Java doesn't include as much dynamic stuff and doesn't require dynamic loading so you can build a really efficient AoT compiler e.g. https://www.codenameone.com/ The core JDK makes those assumptions and is indeed a bad candidate for AoT OTOH so is scala and it will prove very difficult to provide any value beyond what the JDK already offers.
Comment linking /
on “Scala Native v0.1”Submitted Why is the mobile web slow? as a story · 80 points
HN discussionCodename One predated RoboVM, was always larger and is still open source and well supported: https://www.codenameone.com/
Comment linking /
on “Scala Native v0.1”Submitted Java for iPhone as a story · 51 points
HN discussionI think its a different thing. Its more like Codename One https://www.codenameone.com/ for apps that have widgets and not as much for games. Although you probably could create games with it in a pinch.
Comment linking /
on “Flutter – Cross-platform mobile framework from Google”Submitted Java on iPhone,Android,Win,RIM and Desktop as a story · 30 points
HN discussionHow do you do things like text input without native widget integration? Are you familiar with Codename One ( https://www.codenameone.com/ )? It seems to me that what we implemented there is roughly in the same direction although not as mature.
Comment linking /
on “Flutter – Cross-platform mobile framework from Google”Submitted Tips for Gamifying Your Mobile App as a story · 17 points
HN discussion"Many" is untrue. I'm a huge Java fan but FX never picked: https://www.codenameone.com/blog/should-oracle-spring-clean-... Enterprises still use Swing and some have touched FX as Swing is in maintenance mode and they don't have a choice.
Comment linking /blog/should-oracle-spring-clean-javafx.html
on “Tad, a tabular data viewer”Submitted Java for Mobile – iOS, Android, Windows as a story · 8 points
HN discussionYou can on iOS, for example with Codename One or Gluon Mobile, https://www.codenameone.com https://gluonhq.com/products/mobile/ They are also quite happy to sponsor possible console ports.
Comment linking /
on “GC progress from JDK 8 to JDK 17”Submitted Why mobile web is slow as a story · 8 points
HN discussionThat is one way to define native. Another is to use the platform native source code and provide access to that. E.g. on Android Xamarin includes an overhead due to constantly passing thru the slow JNI bridge when it needs to communicate with the native UI widgets. It also includes a relatively large overhead because of standard C# libraries that need to be included on iOS/Android. OTOH Codename One ( https://www.cod…
Comment linking /
on “Dear Apple”Submitted Why Java Is Fast and Objective-C Is Slow as a story · 7 points
HN discussionThey surely can, it is a matter of using the right tools. https://gluonhq.com/products/mobile/vm/ https://www.codenameone.com/
Comment linking /
on “The decline and fall of Java on the desktop”Submitted Why your app should be everywhere as a story · 5 points
HN discussionIf you prefer Java check out Codename One: https://www.codenameone.com/ It's an open source project that compiles Java to all OS's including iOS, Windows (UWP), Android (obviously) as well as JavaScript (with threads etc.)
Comment linking /
on “Why WebAssembly Is Faster Than Asm.js”Submitted JavaScript, Grow Up and Get Threaded as a story · 4 points
HN discussionAs a guy who used to work for Sun on JITted code and is now doing AOT for https://www.codenameone.com/ I've got to say that JIT always beats AOT in runtime. It can also beat it in startup when properly designed (MVM, caching etc.).
Comment linking /
on “Mysterious Android codebase commit”Submitted JavaScript, GROW UP as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI would also add Codename One which has many similarities to QT but is based on Java and more Write Once Run Anywhere oriented http://www.codenameone.com/blog/comparing-qt-and-codename-on...
Comment linking /blog/comparing-qt-and-codename-one.html
on “Ask HN: What's the best library for making cross-platform UIs?”Submitted Java Mobile Development (iOS and Android) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionBesides RoboVM [1], there are also other solutions, like Codename One [2] that's based on XMLVM [3], or Avian [4] which is a new and very promising lightweight VM that can also compile code to native. And there's also J2ObcC [5] a compiler that's being developed and used by Google to share code between Android and iOS. You know, Java can be many things, but you can't beat its ecosystem ;-) [1] http://www.robovm.org/…
Comment linking /
on “About PayPal's Node vs Java “fight””Submitted Oracle, please fix JavaFX as a story · 3 points
HN discussionMost of them are commercial. Excelsior JET - http://www.excelsiorjet.com/ Codename One - http://www.codenameone.com/ Atego Perc - http://www.atego.com/products/atego-perc/ JamaicaVM - https://www.aicas.com/cms/en/JamaicaVM IBM J9 - http://www-01.ibm.com/software/wireless/wece/ Atego, Jamaica and J9 are not full native compilers, rather JVMs with support for AOT deployment, similar to .NET NGEN/JIT story. Additionall…
Comment linking /
on “The March Towards Go”Submitted Building a chat app (iOS and Android) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionhttps://www.codenameone.com/ is the only answer here. It's been around the longest (longer than RoboVM) is mature and run by ex-Sun/Oracle guys so no complexities over the licensing issues with Oracle. It's open source and has always been, supports all IDE's etc.
Comment linking /
on “RoboVM is winding down”Submitted Building a chat app (iOS and Android) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionYou can! http://www.codenameone.com/ http://www.robovm.com/
Comment linking /
on “How Microsoft Uses C++ to Deliver Office Applications Across Multiple Platforms”Submitted Why mobile web is slow? as a story · 3 points
HN discussion