In developing an Android App, developers use either Java or Kotlin as app development language. Whenever one thinks of Android app development, one language which comes to the mind is Java. Majority of Android apps are written in Java, but in Android app development, Java isn’t the only option.
A new language Kotlin has emerged as a sterral programming language for Android app development and Google has announced Kotlin as the second official language at I/O conference for developing the android apps. Kotlin was developed by Jet Brains.
As soon as Google I/O has announced this crucial announcement, there is a debate between the experts over which one is better Java or Kotlin. The better point of Kotlin is that it offer is that it can successfully be compiled and run on Java Virtual Machine (JVM). To know why Kotlin is better than Java as a language for development of Android app, we have to focus on its pros and cons and to come to a better conclusion.
Learning Kotlin is Easier in Comparison to Java: The first and foremost convenience of Kotlin provide to the developers of Android App is that it is much easier to learn then compared to Java programming language. Kotlin does not disappoint those who want to learn coding fast as only few good hours of reading the language references one is able to use it. Most of the Kotlin syntax feels familiar to Java. Kotlin is an enhancement to Java, rather than a complete rewrite. Many skills acquired by developers in Java are still applicable in the Kotlin projects. Kotlin is also designed to be intitutive and easy to read, and some of you can find some code are drastically different, still you should be able to get the gist of what this code is doing.
Kotlin Code is Concise: Kotlin provide comfort of concise code. Unlike Java where developers are compelled to write bigger forms, Kotlin proves to be succinct for the same code results. Kotlin enable Android developers to avoid redundant lines and syntax while coding the app and thus room for error is greatly reduced. Kotlin concise code helps in;
Same functions can be written in less code
Occurrences of bugs greatly reduced
Half the amount of efforts is required in Kotlin than Java.
Developers productivity greatly increased
Less amount of boilerplate code
Coding experience in Kotlin is much more enjoyable for developers of app
The concise code of Kotlin helps Android App specialists, as they can handle much larger and demanding projects than simple android app. Java code snippets are relatively long-winded for even a simple function. This results in Android developer job more time consuming and strenuous.
Interchange- ability with Java: This one quality of Kotlin fascinates any Java developer. In Kotlin, code modules can be written in a simple way that can fit in existing java codes immaculately. All that is required is emitting byte- code so that the two languages work in a harmonious way in the same development project and everything will still compile perfectly. Once the mixed Kotlin and java project is compiled, it is difficult to tell which part of your project is written in Kotlin and which one in Java.
Since the Kotlin is completely interoperable with Java, you can use majority of Java libraries and framework in Kotlin projects even in the advanced framework.
Support from Android Studio: The developer of Kotlin, JetBrains are behind theIntelliJ which are responsible for the Android Studio- so the Kotlin developers will have sufficient support from Android Studio. All that is needed is to install Kotlin Plugin and Kotlin will be configured in your current projects with few steps. It is very easy for the Kotlin users to understand and run its code once the plugin is installed and implement the same while building various apps.
Kotlin offers best approach for programming: Various options are available with Android developers to opt programming approach. Picking the right one is a tricky as a particular programming paradigm has its pros and cons. With Kotlin, you don’t have to any confusion as it offers well-balanced combination of functional and procedural programming
Extension functions of kotlin helps to extend the competence of the class. There is no need for developers to follow the same traditions and decorative patterns, which is required for modification of the class. Kotlin provide alternative to very long and complex java codes and it is better to use it, instead of finding a alternative route.
Ensured Safety: Kotlin ensure more safety as it comes with in-built safety measures. The chance of Android development errors Null-Point-Exception is eliminated. Null is usually represented as absence of value, but it cause app to go dysfunctional. With inherent null protection of Kotlin developers are saved of effort of writing a separate code to address this problem.
Consistency of data can be controlled: Kotlin offer greater consistency of data control over the Java. This has made the Android app development easy for the developers as they do not have to take the pains of going for the manual command to keep up the data uniformity. Kotlin provides couple of option to change the data and this not only keeps data consistent but also reduces the threats and chances of flaws in the data.
No problem of raw type: To ensure backwards compatibility raw types were often used in Java. This however caused the error of Cast- class-Exception during the execution, but it did not occur in compiling stage. By forbidding the raw types, Kotlin solved this issue and it also improved the coding efficiency of the app developers.
Checked Exceptions eliminated: While writing the Java programming, checked exception feature is a source of annoyance for the developers with empty catch blocks. Developers are misinformed to identify a non-existent exception in coding. Kotlin has eliminated this exception feature completely and reduced the code density and type safety and productivity is enhanced.
After seeing the fine points of Kotlin the next question arises is that is it the time to give farewell to Java? Many large brands like Pinterest, Netflix, Amazon, Uber and Trello have converted to Kotlin. With this scale of adoption by large brands, we can say that Kotlin has scored over java and has become a superior choice of Android app Development Company Call@+91-9041506101 and individual developers for development of Android apps developments.
But here we cannot underscore the importance of Java language for Android App development as it is a highly reputed programming language for many years and offers a basket full of open-source tools and libraries to assist and supports the developers, and its importance cannot be ignored as programming language.
Conclusion :
There is no doubt that Kotlin has taken the world of Android app development to a new height mainly due to the progressive and innovative coding advantages. It has proved to be better than Java in speed and is also JVM compatible with clarity in coding over the java coding. But it all depends on the decision of the developer whether to use Java or Kotlin and the project requirements.
