All the high level stuff in Android is done in Java.
(yes, albeit via a different VM, namely, Dalvik).
But Android does not support applets.
Neither does any of other new mobile platforms (iOS, WP etc.).
yep.
theoretically, one "could" support applets, by supplying a JVM capable
of applets, and having the browser be able to use it. worse yet, for
this type of software, AFAIK, given how the system works, and absent
vendor and carrier support, one could essentially need to "root" their
device to install it (if it were to exist as a piece of system software,
rather than an APK or similar). granted, it is possible I guess that a
JVM could be supplied as an APK (AFAICT it is possible for APKs to
behave as libraries, and be linked to by other APKs).
whether all this would be "worthwhile" is a different issue.
Flash should be available on Android but not on iOS.
yep.
for many Flash apps though, the performance and user experience would be
debatable. things like YouTube and similar should probably work ok (I
have an Android tablet which can access YouTube ok, albeit with the
"mobile" layout funkiness). likewise, YouTube and similar don't do much
processor intensive in Flash, since the main expensive parts (A/V codecs
and playback stuff) are handled by native code.
but, I distrust Flash some, as it is one of those things capable of
causing lag even to a browser on a typical PC (and one ends up
installing "Adblock Plus" and similar, not so much out of a particular
dislike of advertising, but rather to avoid the *severe lag* often
caused by all the Flash-based banner adds...).
not that some of those "laggy as hell" Flash-based games give much hope
either. some of them are barely playable as-is on a desktop PC, more so
that my PC has a CPU 3x-4x faster with 4x as many cores, and 16x or 32x
more RAM than a typical Android device (I have 16GB of RAM, vs 512MB or
1GB which is AFAIK common on many newer mobile devices).
one can avoid being deceived: a slick and responsive UI does not mean
there is a lot of raw power behind it.
so, I guess a question is why one wants Flash:
for things like YouTube;
or, for something like Newgrounds.
For mobile web you should use HTML5 and JavaScript.
probably a fair statement.
granted, I haven't done much related to web-apps personally.
mild tangent follows (ignore if not interested or if it seems irrelevant):
ironically though, both JavaScript and ActionScript (Flash) are
significant influences on my own scripting language (at its core, it is
basically the same language, and also more-or-less implements ECMA-262).
however, there are significant differences WRT library features and the
semantics for extended features.
the major difference is what it runs on: my 3D engine is not a
web-browser, even if it has some similar features, makes some use of
XML, has an HTTP client (and server), ... (trivia: I had before
considered some possibly "interesting" uses for HTTP in relation to
online gaming).
I before considered the possibility of an Android port, but there were
some non-trivial issues: getting it down to a more "sane" memory
footprint, dealing with non-trivial UI issues (my stuff is very much
designed for a mouse+keyboard interface, and one essentially has to
"re-think" many aspects of UI design to make it usable on a
touch-screen), ...
(nevermind that it looks like building both for the PC and Android with
the same app and the same codebase also looks non-trivial, and one is
almost better off "starting clean" if trying to target an app to Android).
one may take it for granted when developing PC software that one has
around 3GB freely usable for a single 32-bit process (actually, the
"unusable" 1GB has use as well). (by "freely usable", I mean, on modern
HW one can use all of it without necessarily causing lag or HDD
thrashing). yes, 64-bit is "better" (no 3GB limit), just for now I am
still building mostly for 32-bits until 32-bit Windows is more solidly
"dead and gone".