Intel has released the Intel C++ Compiler v13.0 for Android OS, its first attempt at delivering an optimizing C/C++ compiler designed specifically for Google’s mobile platform.
The release is notable for a number of reasons. First, the overwhelming majority of Android devices are currently built around chips based on the ARM architecture. Intel’s compilers can only output code for its own chips, including its Atom line of mobile processors.
Second, the majority of Android app development is done not in C++ but in Java. Specifically, developers use Oracle’s Java SDK to compile their code and then run it through a further tool that converts it into Android’s unique Dalvik binary format, which can be executed by virtual machines running on a variety of chips.