The question is which is better Kotlin or Java. With the appearance of Kotlin this struggle started in 2011, when at the same time, Java was completely beating any new competitors off. With the help of Google and JetBrains, Kotlin was developed to eliminate any of Java’s faults. Beginning with the Google I/O 2017 Developer Conference, Kotlin started to move into a high level.
Android and Java have always been connected. Android SDK is even written in Java. The situation has started to change after the invention of Kotlin. Below you will read about the differences between Kotlin vs. Java in order to understand if adopting Kotlin is worthwhile.
If we look at Java and Kotlin, we will see that both languages have positive characteristics worth considering when choosing between them. The advantages of Java are:
- Easy to learn
- Strong community
- Platform-independent
Just like any other programming language, Java has its disadvantages like:
- Verbosity
- Performance
- Nullability Problems
Recommendation: Why Use Java in 2019?
After everything mentioned above Kotlin looks like the perfect language to develop with. Why is Java still used today? Read on to find out:
- There are Java gurus in a team who don't want to switch to Kotlin.
- A team tried Kotlin and was unsatisfied with it.
- If a successful project was developed in Java (although, it is not a problem to develop new features in Kotlin, in this case). Don't forget that Java code needs to be supported by Java if you don’t want the transition of the whole project to Kotlin.
Kotlin: New Android Language
Kotlin offers new capabilities for Android development. It compiles with JVM bytecode and can easily be used without dropping off or having to rewrite the whole project.
In spite of the fact that Kotlin is a new language, it has already shown a lot of benefits in comparison with Java. Below you will read the advantages of Kotlin:
- Conciseness
- Interoperability
- Functional programming support
- Fail-fast system
- Supportive community
Every language has its advantages and disadvantages just like Kotlin, which also has some weak points.
- Slow compilation
- Lack of resources
New Kotlin Features in Android Development
Kotlin has new features that make Android programming even easier and more sufficient.
- Null-safety through nullable and non-nullable types, safe calls and safe casts
Kotlin has a special way to prevent null checking with special non-nullable types.
if (someOjbect != null) ...
These types don't allow setting null in a variable. If you try, your project won't be compiled. This feature guarantees that you won't get NullPointerException when you use a non-nullable variable.
Another case is nullable types, which let you set null. However, to prevent NPE, Kotlin has special operator ?. For example. someObject?.someMethod(). This code will be executed only if someObject is not null.
- Extension functions
It lets one add own methods to existing classes. It is very useful when you need to have extended functionality of existing classes. For instance, by default, ImageView class in Android doesn't have methods to load images from the Internet, but it can simply be extended to provide this functionality. If we create an extension function loadImage(url: String), you can just call loadImage(url) on any ImageView instance and it will work.
- Higher-order functions
With the help of this feature developers create methods that can receive other methods as arguments or return methods. For example, if we have a list of items and when a user clicks on the item, we need to redirect him to a new screen with detailed info about this item. Below you will learn the analysis of the Kotlin vs. Java way of implementing this feature.
In Java, we need to create an interface with a method, implement this interface on some object that will listen to user's tap events, and call an interface's method every time the user taps on an item.
In Kotlin, we only write a function that has all the logic that must be invoked when the user taps. So, we directly call an existing function, instead of invoking interface's method (that calls a method with logic).
- Data classes
There are many use cases where we just need to keep data in classes (in MVP architecture it is M - Model). The comparison of Kotlin vs. Java will show you that Kotlin has a simple way to create these classes. Kotlin automatically generates useful functions for read/write values, for copying data, etc. when we create a data class.
- Immutability
This feature lets objects be immutable. It means that as soon as created, an object can’t be changed in the future. If you want to change an object, you ought to create a mutable copy of the immutable object, change it, and continue working with it. Immutable objects are thread safe; because they can’t be changed, there is no need to sync them and there are no concurrency problems.
- Type aliases (added on Kotlin 1.1)
With this feature you can have shorter names of existing types. For instance, instead of using MutableMap<K, MutableList<File>> in Java, here are Kotlin code examples you can use.
typealias FileTable<K> = MutableMap<K, MutableList<File>>
and use FileTable<SomeType> as a new type, that in fact will be expanded in MutableMap<SomeType,MutableList<File>>
As you know, Java has been one of the first-choices and recommended languages for developing Android apps for years. However, with the appearance of Kotlin, it has slowly but constantly given up this place.
Is it possible for Kotlin to replace Java completely? Is it difficult to find good Kotlin developers?
Here https://mlsdev.com/blog/kotlin-vs-java you will find out about this and about the benefits and drawbacks of each language.
Java vs Kotlin most Important details that You Must Know Which language should a beginner learn, Java vs KotlinHere in this blog, Codeavail experts will help you to understand Java vs Kotlin.
DART ProgrammingJava has the best library support between two if you want to develop a desktop app.Now coming to the questions maybe you’re asking for Android development so we recommend you go for Java because it’s more versatile.
Perhaps in 2-3 years if Kotlin will replace Java.
However, Kotlin is not only competitive in the market.
If any of them replace Java, learn that.Why Java is goodGood library supportSupport is readily availableLog in with social networks available to almost all websitesEasy to program and fastThe same language can be used in other functions (e.g.
Let us compare the pros and cons of these two languages.Java Pros: Since Java has been around for a long time, you have a huge ecosystem of tools and packages for a variety of tasks.
It is the social media platform where content aggregation occurs through personally maintained boards.
Evernote is a popular note-taking, and task management platform competing under the likes of Google keep, Bear and few more.
The technology analyst at Evernote would not have recently migrated from Java to Kotlin for their Android mobile app.
However, Android is generally seen to be comparatively less stable than iOS, but the migration initiative has helped enhance the performance and stability of the Android app manifolds.
The world’s largest short commute taxi service, Uber has also used Kotlin for its internal tool processing and model management.
The highly dynamic and location service-centric mobile app is proving to be highly resilient and error-free for all users across the globe.
Kotlin for Android was a bit slow to pick up but with the full support from Google has made it to the top of countless “top languages to learn next” lists.
But is it really the future of Android development and or just another overhyped tech?
What is Kotlin and why should you care?
Kotlin is a general-purpose statically-typed programming language for Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The language is compiled in Java 6/8 bytecode, but can also be compiled into JavaScript and into native code.
Google’s all-new programming language ‘Kotlin’ is an open source and statically-typed, running on the Java Virtual Machine.It combines object-oriented and functional programming features for the JVM and Android development.
With the Kotlin programming language, it becomes easily possible for developers to separate functionality and business logic using extensions. Now, they can save hours of development time using Kotlin.
Across the world, a lot of developers found this language extremely helpful because of these benefits, and therefore, they have employed Kotlin as their first programming language for android app development.
While discussing about Kotlin, one of our experienced android developers shared some of the top and advanced Kotlin tips. So, if you are planning to develop an android application using Kotlin or do you want to know more about this programming language, check out the below-given tips that are helpful to anyone, who uses Kotlin.
