While Java is most popular language for android development.
But android application can be written in any language that can compile and run
on Java Virtual Machine (JVM). End user
even can’t see the difference.
Kotlin is officially introduced in recent Google IO session.
Switching to Kotlin programming language is a nice idea as Kotlin is much
stronger language compare to Java in many areas.
There are 10 reason to use kotlin in android development
over java –
Java isn’t a modern language
Even though launching Java 8 was the great
effort to make it a modern language but at the time of writing android only
support a subset of Java 9 features. Java as a whole also has some pretty
well-documented language issues, including endless try-catch blocks,
a lack of extend ability, null-unsafety (and that infamous NullPointerException),
not to mention a lack of support for functional programming features.
Interchangeability with Java
Kotlin strength is, it can work all alone
and along with java as well. Open source content which are already written in
Java can work with Kotlin with any problem
Kotlin is easy to learn
Being a modern object oriented programming language,
Kotlin is very easy to learn. Java developer will find most syntax of Kotlin
similar to Java.
Combination of Best functional and Procedural
So why should you have to choose between
functional and procedural? Like many modern programming languages, Kotlin aims
to bring you the best of both worlds by combining concepts and elements from
both procedural and functional programming.
Nice Android Studio Support
Kotlin is developed by JetBrains, the
company behind IntelliJ—the IDE that Android Studio is based on. It’s obvious
that Android Studio has excellent support for Kotlin. If you've installed the
Kotlin plugin, Android Studio makes configuring Kotlin in your project simple.
Concise code
Class written in Kotlin is more concise
compare to code written in Java for same work. Kotlin is particularly good at reducing the amount of
boilerplate code you need to write, which should make coding in Kotlin a much
more enjoyable experience
Extra runtime size
The Kotlin Standard Library and runtime will
increase the size of your .apk. While this only equates to
around 800KB. But it will put extra 800KB on your apk current size.
Even though Kotlin seems much
better than Java but lack of official support from Google can pile up your
pain. On internet there is less help available on Kotlin. I would recommend to
use Kotlin along with Java. There is no need of immediate transformation of
your application to Kotlin as Google didn’t make it compulsory.
Keep learning and Keep commenting ……..
Wish you Good luck
