> Here's the bottom line: Google didn't have to call it's resizable array java.util.ArrayList<E> -- it could have made android.data.ResizableArray<E>. But they didn't. Google copied the method signatures, and more importantly their organization into packages, to avoid the "drudgery" of defining their own original API.
That's one explanation of their motive, but it's not the only one and it's not the one they claim. The one they claim is that they wanted their platform to be compatible with existing software written for the Java platform. And along with it, with existing software developers writing on the Java platform. From that perspective it's not a choice: you can't use a different standard library API and have Java software run on your platform, just like you can't have a different instruction set and have a compiled executable work on your CPU, just like you can't sell an appliance with a different plug and have it work in a standard household outlet.
That's one explanation of their motive, but it's not the only one and it's not the one they claim. The one they claim is that they wanted their platform to be compatible with existing software written for the Java platform. And along with it, with existing software developers writing on the Java platform. From that perspective it's not a choice: you can't use a different standard library API and have Java software run on your platform, just like you can't have a different instruction set and have a compiled executable work on your CPU, just like you can't sell an appliance with a different plug and have it work in a standard household outlet.