Are you confused between Java and Kotlin? Believe me, I was also confused as same. Yes, java is a very old language and also very widely used. Lots of websites that we see today their backends written in java. Apart from android Development, with the help of java, one can do backend coding and some people also do competitive programming. Java has very good community support and you will never feel like you are alone on this path.
Too much about JAVA. Right? Now let’s talk about why Kotlin?
We can call Kotlin a better version of JAVA. It uses a similar method to compile as Java does. So what is better in Kotlin?
- Concise: While developing it is very irritating to write these boilerplate codes. Kotlin solves these problems. Besides this Kotlin is also readable hence easier to understand and maintain the Codebase.
- Interoperability: Whether you have written your code in Java, it doesn’t matter you can effortlessly switch to kotlin. Kotlin is compatible with Java hence one can easily use the tools and framework of Java in the Kotlin project.
- Safe: With Kotlin we can overcome the issue of Null Safety with the help of the null keyword. Hence preventing the app from being crashed.
- Compiler: Kotlin comes with a Safe compiler that detects errors during compile time not run time.
Where can we use Kotlin?
Kotlin was designed by Jet Brains for Android Development. Since 2017 kotlin has become the official language for Android Development. So you can develop native apps with kotlin. Apart from Android Development, one can also develop Server-Side Applications with Kotlin. One can also write Front End web applications, Server Side and Serverless applications using kotlin/js. You can check more details here. Kotlin Multiplatform: With Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, you can build cross-platform mobile applications and share common code between Android and iOS, such as business logic, connectivity, and more. Though currently, this is in its alpha stage. You can also do competitive programming using kotlin. Check this link to know more about C.P with kotlin.
Closing words
Now let’s talk about what benefits one will get if he/she does Native Android Development with Kotlin. Kotlin supports Android Jetpack, KTX extensions. Current many startup's and companies from the fortune 500 are using Kotlin for their Android apps. According to Google, over 60% of the top 1000 apps on the Play Store use Kotlin. So Start Developing With Kotlin and its growing community.
Reference: https://kotlinlang.org/
Thank you for your patience. Until next time 👋
This is also published in medium: https://medium.com/@mshubhasai2002/why-you-should-prefer-kotlin-while-developing-native-android-apps-cc7485877107