Kotlin vs Java for Android development LogRocket Blog

We’ve started the Multiplatform Mobile Content Creators Recognition Campaign. Our goal is to show all of the authors of articles, videos, and samples how much we appreciate their efforts. Kotlin will continue to have its own independent release cycle from that of Android or Android Studio.

One of Kotlin’s goals is to be a language that is available on multiple platforms and this will always be the case. We’ll keep supporting and actively developing Kotlin/JVM (server-side, desktop and other types of applications), and Kotlin/JS. We are working on Kotlin/Native for other platforms such as macOS, iOS and IoT/embedded systems. New Android developers want to know which language they should learn for building modern Android applications. While other programming languages have already reached maturity, Kotlin is still in its infancy. The latest version right now is 1.3, and it came with a lot of new features.

Share code on your terms and for different platforms

An obvious choice; Android development tools, libraries, documentation, and more come with in-built support for Kotlin users. Kotlin, on the other hand, requires more cognitive investments in learning than Java. However, it requires less code overall, making it apt for experienced developers or visual learners. Although Kotlin is also an established language, it is still younger than Java and has no versions with long-term support at the time of writing. Although both Java and Kotlin are considered stable languages, Java can ultimately be considered more stable.

Net Solutions has also adopted Kotlin as an Android app development language for its projects. One of the reasons why Kotlin came into existence is because its parent company JetBrains had specific requirements from a programming language they would use themselves. It also offers practical value for its parent company, which uses it for its line of products.

Tools

If you need to allow nulls, for example to hold SQL query results, you can declare a nullable type by appending a question mark to the type, e.g. Many asynchronous mechanisms available in other languages can be implemented as libraries using Kotlin coroutines. This includes async/await from C# and ECMAScript, channels and select from Go, and generators/yield from C# and Python. Kotlin offers big advantages over Java for JVM and Android development, and plays nicely with Java in the same projects. Over 9 Million Digital Assets Everything you need for your next creative project.

• Integrating Kotlin with Android Studio is an easy, seamless process.
• For enterprises that are looking for a robust, scalable, and secure Android app development technology to support their business goals, Kotlin is the undisputed choice today.
• If you’re sure a nullable reference is not null, feel free to use the !!
• We’ve started the Multiplatform Mobile Content Creators Recognition Campaign.
• We believe this is a great step for Kotlin, and fantastic news for Android developers as well as the rest of our community.

Kotlin is a new, expressive, general-purpose programming language powered by the same virtual machine technology that powers Java. Since Kotlin compiles to the JVM bytecode, it can be used side by side with Java, and it does not come with a performance overhead. Many will find Kotlin easier to learn and write than Java. A number of things factor into this experience including Kotlin’s concise syntax, type inference, explicit nullability, and extensive standard library. Java will likely continue to lose some market share to Kotlin within the Android ecosystem, but Java will remain one of the most used programming languages in the world.

Over 200k developers use LogRocket to create better digital experiences

Kotlin is a statically typed, object-oriented programming language that is interoperable with the Java virtual machine , Java Class Libraries and Android. In 2018, Kotlin was the fastest growing language on GitHub with 2.6 times more developers https://globalcloudteam.com/ compared to 2017. It is the fourth most loved programming language according to the 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey. In Kotlin, to derive a new class from a base class type, the base class needs to be explicitly marked as « open ».

Strong evidence suggests that Kotlin is becoming an increasingly popular choice for Android development. Kotlin is relevant today because it is open-source and offers extensive features in mobile app development services. It has been a solution to Android developers’ problems for a while. It solves the queries that surface in Java, giving developers flexibility, safety, clarity, and tool support. Class member functions are virtual, i.e. dispatched based on the runtime type of the object they are called on.

Kotlin vs Java

Kotlin is an ideal language for Android app development with a long list of features for creating great apps. Its compatibility with Java and its interoperability are two main benefits for mobile app developers. Kotlin also uses lambda expressions, allowing developers to create more concise and efficient code. This drastically reduces the time it takes to write programs in Kotlin compared to writing them in Java or other languages. Kotlin reduces the amount of boilerplate code by introducing several language features.

Correcting these and preventing them from recurring is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. For anyone building an Android app today, there are few languages as efficient and easy to use as Kotlin. A distinct part of the developer community for Java originates from India.

What is Kotlin? The Java alternative explained

This is in contrast to most object-oriented languages such as Java where classes are open by default. In July 2011, JetBrains unveiled Project Kotlin, a new language for the JVM, how to hire a kotlin developer which had been under development for a year. JetBrains lead Dmitry Jemerov said that most languages did not have the features they were looking for, with the exception of Scala.

Tweet