Performance Analysis for Android Runtime Environment

Abstract

A new runtime was introduced with Android 4.4 i.e. Kit Kat, which should eventually replace the Dalvik runtime. ART (Android Runtime) and Dalvik as the runtime executes the Dalvik Executable format and Dex byte code specification. In other words, when an app is run on android, it goes through a runtime. Previously, Android's runtime was Dalvik. While it performed well, it was still a bottleneck as it only ran the code at the moment it needed to, with a JIT compiler (Just-in-time). AOT (Ahead-of-time) compilation paradigm is followed by ART to process application instructions before they are even required. In the next section, the background of compilation on various architectures is described. In next section, ART is introduced with its new features. In next section, ART has been tested against traditional Dalvik runtime. Then before the conclusion, ARM big. LITTLE architecture is described with some results.