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Statista reported 52.2% of worldwide online traffic generated through mobile phones in 2018. There has been a simultaneous increase in cross-platform programming, a much awaited switch from core native (that is expensive) and an increase in interest in progressive web apps. Technologies like Kotlin, AR, VR, IoT, Chatbots have further strengthened Android App Development.
Right since Java originated, mobile app developers have been using it to develop Android apps. But few know that Android has officially adopted Kotlin as the supported language for mobile app development services. Android developers are often confused as to which programming language would acquire the scenario in the future but Java is still favorite for Android App Development. It is the second most popular language (67%) on GITHUB in 2018 after JavaScript (97%). One of the burning questions these days is a differentiation between Java and Kotlin. Android apps can be written in any language and can run on Java virtual machine (JVM). Kotlin is one such JVM compatible programming language that compiles down to Java bytecode and has really caught the attention of the Android Community.
Instead of browsing all the way down, according to me, by all odds it’s Kotlin.
Kotlin is a general-purpose programming language and it was first introduced by JetBrains in 2011, which is the originator of IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and many other top IDEs. It got its name from ‘Kotlin Island’ in St. Petersburg, Russia. Kotlin was actually created to be better than Java in every possible way. But JetBrains didn’t put an effort to write an entirely new IDE’s from scratch. This was the reason why Kotlin was made 100% interoperable with Java. If you’re planning to fiddle around with Kotlin along with Java, you can do that without guilt.
Kotlin sharing and app-cloud based services that offer a higher level feature set like Google Firebase will feature on Android as a platform in the coming times.
Concise:
Drastically decrease the volume of boilerplate code
Source: https://kotlinlang.org
Safe:
Avoid whole classes of errors like null pointer exceptions.
Source: https://kotlinlang.org
Interoperable:
Use any existing libraries for the Android, JVM, and the browser.
Source: https://kotlinlang.org
Tool-friendly:
Select any Java IDE or create from the command line.
Source: https://kotlinlang.org
Features | Kotlin | Java |
---|---|---|
Fully OPP (Object Oriented Programming) | Fully OPP | Not Pure OPP |
Functional Reactive Programming | Yes | No |
Lambda Expression | Yes | No |
NULL Safety | Yes | No |
Invariant Array | Yes | No |
Smart Casts | Yes | No |
Singleton Objects | Easily create Singleton Objects | Yes |
Checked Exception | No | Yes |
Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted
Also read: Kotlin is the New Java for Developing Android Apps
Android development has always been tagged with Java Development. But Kotlin has outpaced it in performance, simplicity, maintainability, robustness, and lightweight code. Developers and users lure for feature-rich, effective and cost-efficient mobile apps that help increase the efficiency of processes, increasing competencies, meet customers’ expectations, help maintain business’ reputation and remove uncertainty. That is quite a bit. Google has already extended its support to the Android community for using Kotlin as a ‘first-class’ language.
Kotlin adds some modern features to Java Mobile Development like compiling the code to JavaScript or native to build code that can run on iOS. It is easy as it works upon JVM, is statically typed and open-source language. Pinterest, Trello, Carlens are some amazing apps being created by Kotlin.
Java has been a favorite option of developers for Android App Development ever since. It is an object-oriented language that is the second most loved language on GitHub. Been there for more than 20 years, its popularity only seems to grow.
Although Kotlin seems to work back to back with Java for front-end development, it is already being utilized in backend projects like Spring 5. It can compile to almost every platform including Android, JVM, Native and JavaScript and can extract one common codebase that will target all of them at the same time. Its scripting capabilities make it easy to handle all Gradle build scripts. Its built-in null safety support makes it win over Android that is full of old Java-style API’s. Being compatible with all Java libraries and frameworks, the JVM, Gradle integration and Mavel build systems, it allows Android developers to write new modules and write them alongside existing Java code. Plus it supports modern programming concepts like higher-order functions, extension functions, delegates which help build clean API’s.
It always has Java by its side, due to the presence of Android SDK. Slower compilation seems to be the only feature that needs an update in Kotlin. Famous Java use cases include Android-oss, NewPipe and WordPress Engineering, etc.
So the main reason behind Kotlin’s adoption is that it addresses issues left behind by Java and ranks amongst the top 5 favourite programing languages amongst developers. Kotlin has inbuilt safety mechanisms as discussed above in addition to being concise and expressive than Java at the same time.
Java is a widely-used programming language and forms the basis of Android development. There can be many reasons why Java for Android Development is not always preferred:
Heard about JetBrains’ Java to Kotlin converter integrated into IntelliJ? It seems like an easy option but is not completely error-free. But it can help save a lot of code. Migrating the entire Java code can be tiresomely long without it.
Name of Brand | Type |
---|---|
Uber | On Demand Taxi Service |
Evernote | Organize Your Notes with Evernote |
Gradle | Tool for multi-language software development |
Image sharing and social media service platform | |
Pivotal | Cloud platform hosting |
Atlassian | Software Development and Collaboration Tools |
Corda | Open Source Blockchain Platform for Business |
Coursera | Open online course provider |
Out of various programming paradigms, which are currently in use, it’s not easy to evaluate which approach will turn out to be the best or reap rewards beyond expectations. Each of these programming paradigms has their own set of strengths and weakness. There can be various scenarios where a functional programming approach can be effective while the procedural approach can be simultaneously used in other places.
Is the differentiation between functional and procedural apt? Kotlin is the merger of both functional and procedural approaches and aims to bring out the best from the two. Once you gain experience in Java application development, you will have an even better understanding and appreciation for Kotlin.
Understanding all the above features, differences and benefits Kotlin fares even well when combined with the latest technological innovations:
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Neeti Kotia is a technology journalist who seeks to analyze the advancements and developments in technology that affect our everyday lives. Her articles primarily focus upon the business, social, cultural, and entertainment side of the technology sector.
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