Q:

The Bluestacks Android emulator is built using .Net?

I recently installed the Bluestacks Android emulator. I happened to look at the process running under ProcessExplorer and was surprised to see that it is a .NET application.

The HD-Frontend.exe is the Bluestacks UI process and is highlighted yellow because it has loaded the .NET framework. There are a number of other processes associated with Bluestacks and most are also .NET.
Opening the EXE in Reflector.NET also shows that it is .NET.

I thought Android was Java-based. What's going on here?

A:

Android is Java-based, but that does not mean an Android emulator has to be written in Java -- just functionally emulate Android devices.
While BlueStack's site does not list any system requirements for its emulator that I could find, at least a couple sites -- e.g. Bazooka Apps and Android Emulator for PC -- mention .NET as a requirement.
Ultimately the proof of what's going on is right in the process list and Reflector results you found.

