Smith Johnson
Mobile applications are increasingly becoming popular. According to Statista, Google Play hosts 2.46 million apps while the Apple app store has almost 1.96 million apps on it and these are the leading two. Hence, the number of mobile apps is growing as to deliver the best services, businesses are also opting for mobile apps.
Holding the 76% market share all over the world, Android is the most popular platform where mobile apps are hosted. And Google is doing its best to provide developers with technologies that facilitate better development and Kotlin is one of the great results of these efforts.
Kotlin: New Favorite of Google for Boosting Android App Development
Kotlin is a programming language that combines the features of object-oriented and functional programming paradigm and is supported by the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and provides the same user experience as Java. Kotlin is popularly used for Android development and Google has introduced Kotlin as the primary language to be used for Android development in I/O 2019.
Kotlin is designed by JetBrains, a well-known Google development partner. Although it has not been developed by Google, it is the best alternative to Java with adding more features and functions that define mobile app development as fun. Hence, it advances the features of Java and has gained support from Google for its excellent features and enhanced development support.
Kotlin for Beginners: A Better Option to Start Learning Development
Java was a very much easier and go-to option for developers to develop an Android application. However, the improvement of certain functions and features was necessary. Therefore, many of the concepts are the same as Java and for a beginner of Kotlin, who is already an expert at Java, this language becomes much easier to learn. However, for anyone who doesn’t belong to coding grounds, Kotlin is much easier to learn. The advantages offered by Kotlin get it placed among one of Google’s favorites and these benefits also provides great development support to Android developers.
Open-Source and Fully Java Compatible
Kotlin is made available open-source for all. Those who are interested in learning can also avail Kotlin and start off their career. Open-source support has always been one of the leading attractions of Google supported solutions and Kotlin qualifies to be the best one as providing complete interoperability with Java. All Java supportive frameworks and tools can be added to your Kotlin project also- and they work excellently and supports the code shifting to Kotlin from Java easier.
Concise Coding Ability
Kotlin doesn’t need the developer to write longer codes which almost becomes like writing an essay. Kotlin is all about increasing the development speed and hence it concentrates on keeping the code statement lengths as minimum as possible. Also, note that the requirement for semicolon (;) is removed. Code can be written easily and a small chunk of code can perform more functions than you can imagine.
Thanks to the smart casts, data casts, type interfaces and other pers[ectives, the code length is kept to as minimum as possible and the efficiency of code is improved than before. While developers are tired of writing lengthy code in Java for making a function work in the app, Kotlin is there to save their day with the advantage of concise coding facility.
Less Error-Prone
Concise code doesn’t bring the errors with it. Instead, as the code length is bearable, review of the code and testing is done precisely and it implements the code to be less error-prone. Also, the code is safer as there are no leaks found with the developers redundantly checking code without having to strain much. It keeps the UX safe from bugs and crashes and improves the user experience ultimately. Hence, the code written in Kotlin can be assumed to be less error-prone.
Compiler Support
The compiler is one of the important aspects that help in understanding whether a programming language is good enough for use or not. As Kotlin has been developed by keeping the developer’s perspective and productivity in mind, it possesses an awesome compiler that supports developers to compile the code before run-time and error detection occurs at compile time only. It significantly reduces the chances of the application failing at run time and also keeps on checking the code multiple times to eliminate possibilities of bugs by getting it fixed right away from developers.
Supports Functional Programming
Functional programming supports programming done with expressions instead of using the statements and writing up data. It works by evaluating the mathematical functions and allows the outputs to be received without needing to type the data like statements. Kotlin includes the functionalities of functional programming and includes support for functional programming. If you are looking forward to choosing functional programming as your programming paradigm, Kotlin is the best choice to practice out and learn it.
Eliminates Nullability
Nullability is one of the major drawbacks of Java. Well, Kotlin is here to solve such problems and as Kotlin has placed “null” right in its type system, it becomes easier for developers to declare the variables as null with it. Without creating a single issue around, Kotlin offers a seamless coding experience by overcoming the nullability problem efficiently.
Kotlin is Not Just About Android Development
One of the leading misconceptions is that Kotlin is only dedicated to Android development. However, Kotlin includes support for several IDEs which also has Android Studio on its list. Therefore, if you are a code geek and want to expand your horizons to more options than just Android development, Kotlin is the one for you as it is easy and fun to learn.
With multiple mobile apps like Pinterest, Coursera, Basecamp and more promoting and actively using Kotlin for their mobile apps, it has influenced other developers also to start developing uber clone, utility apps, business app solutions and more in Kotlin only to avail excellent services. Also, the advantages of Kotlin has led it to become an industry-popular language which will soon overtake other languages with its benefits and intuitive features for developers.
Reasons to Start Learning Kotlin Right Away
It is true that Java is not easy to be replaced. However, it is also true that Kotlin holds the potential and can become a successful alternative to choose for. Also, as many of the companies and industry giants are keeping Kotlin on their resume search, you should definitely try out Kotlin and gain expertise to secure your future with a promising technology that is here to stay for more years. The development tasks are made easier to perform but it also implies you to learn the basics first and clear them out to build a successful career in the development industry as an expert Kotlin developer.
