--- title: android UI development made easy | daily.dev description: An experimental Java library brings a React/Mithril-inspired virtual DOM approach to native Android UI development, replacing XML layouts with declarative,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: android UI development made easy | daily.dev og:description: An experimental Java library brings a React/Mithril-inspired virtual DOM approach to native Android UI development, replacing XML layouts with declarative,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8vTWHzUHk.png og:image:alt: android UI development made easy og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # android UI development made easy **[zserge's blog](https://daily.dev/sources/zserge)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An experimental Java library brings a React/Mithril-inspired virtual DOM approach to native Android UI development, replacing XML layouts with declarative, type-safe layout trees built from nested function calls. The approach uses a Node tree representing views and attribute setters, with a render() function that diffs and updates only changed views. The author shares a working proof-of-concept under 250 lines of code, hosted on GitHub, and invites contributors to help build a full-featured library, while acknowledging open problems like diffing listener nodes and generating attribute setters automatically. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I avoid using XML layouts in Android and write UI declaratively in Java instead? You can build a virtual layout system modeled on Mithril.js and React's virtual DOM, where nested Java function calls like v(TextView.class, text(someText)) construct a tree of Node objects representing views and attribute setters. A renderer inflates or diffs this tree against real Android views, so layouts become type-safe, IDE-autocompletable, and reusable, all without XML or reflection, in under 250 lines of code. _daily.dev surfaces experiments like this for developers rethinking how they structure Android UI code._ ### How do virtual DOM concepts from React and Mithril.js translate to native Android view rendering? A virtual layout tree of plain Java objects mirrors the actual Android view hierarchy, similar to how React and Mithril.js represent HTML as virtual trees. The tree is rebuilt whenever app data changes, then compared against the previous version so only the views whose attributes actually changed get updated, avoiding full view hierarchy re-inflation. _Developers comparing UI architecture patterns across web and mobile can follow this kind of cross-platform idea on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [XMLUI: A modern web development tool based on a component model](https://daily.dev/posts/xmlui-a-modern-web-development-tool-based-on-a-component-model-j50u1izas) · SD Times · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [One Tap, Three Machines: How Android Views, Flutter, and Compose Actually Render Your UI](https://daily.dev/posts/one-tap-three-machines-how-android-views-flutter-and-compose-actually-render-your-ui-2qgm1oxlz) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A New Era · React Native](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-era-react-native-eizv3agrm) · React Native · 260 upvotes · 20 comments --- Tags: [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#java](https://daily.dev/tags/java), [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"android UI development made easy","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T10:20:19.541Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T10:21:48.937Z","description":"An experimental Java library brings a React/Mithril-inspired virtual DOM approach to native Android UI development, replacing XML layouts with declarative,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0_ODbtD2--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2008","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0_ODbtD2--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2008","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"zserge's blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"zserge's blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--KQnFBOIT--/f_auto,q_auto/v1787480407/logos/zserge","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/zserge"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"react,java,android","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"zserge's blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/zserge"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"android UI development made easy"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/android-ui-development-made-easy-8vtwhzuhk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How can I avoid using XML layouts in Android and write UI declaratively in Java instead?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"You can build a virtual layout system modeled on Mithril.js and React's virtual DOM, where nested Java function calls like v(TextView.class, text(someText)) construct a tree of Node objects representing views and attribute setters. 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