Recently, a couple of commit on AOSP indicated that Google is all set to replace Dalvik with ART in the next version of Android. Today, another set of commits from a Google engineer — Andrew Hsieh — indicates that the company might be replacing its usual API naming scheme convention as well.

The commit “tentatively” renames the 64-bit API level to a non-numeric character — L. Google has always used numbers to indicate a jump in its API version, with Android 4.4 KitKat carrying an API level 19.

The commit in the message clearly mentions that this is a tentative commit so whether this change makes it to the final version of Android or not is unknown. On the flip side, the commit confirms that Google is working on making the upcoming L release of Android compatible with 64-bit chips.

The shift to a 64-bit processor along with ART means that the users should be seeing a great improvement in performance in Android as well as its apps with the next release. Perhaps, this change will finally make Android as smooth as iOS in terms of UI fluidity.