Ashad Rehman
Just a couple of years ago, Google introduced Kotlin, an astatically-typed programming language that has inspired scores of coders around the world. The platform was initially introduced back in 2017 in the Google I/O and had since been gaining significant traction among Android app developers. It has become the second official programming language of Android & has introduced marvellous app concepts among individual developers as well as the enterprise community. With Google going official with the announcement of Kotlin becoming the next big coding platform for Android developers, there’s no doubt that this language is very intuitive and adaptable.
But will Kotlin ever be able to replace Java as a programming language? Let’s find out.
Here are some benefits of having Kotlin as a preferred app development programming language.
Kotlin
Here’s a statistically typed programming language that works wonders on JavaScript and JVMs (Java-based Virtual Machines). Powered by JetBrains, Kotlin has easily made its place in the Android development world. Since the time Kotlin was introduced to the digital stratosphere, it has gained a lot of traction among enthusiastic developers. And with the native platform hitting the market, Kotlin is rapidly being used by the Android app developers. Here’s a snippet from the JetBrains official site.
Some of the many business leaders, including names like Pinterest, Uber, Evernote, Atlassian, and Pivotal are using Kotlin for their Android app development.
Here are some of the other renowned apps which are powered by Kotlin.
With so many recent apps powered by Kotlin, app developers may wonder what makes Kotlin such a reliable app development language. It may make them ponder whether Kotlin is going to replace Java in the coming days or not. So here, we are going to list down some of the increasing benefits of Kotlin that make it so exciting.
Benefits of Using Kotlin
Achieve App Efficiency with Kotlin
As far as the code syntax of Kotlin is concerned, the code is cognitive and adaptive. Hence, there’s no doubt that one of the major factors why Kotlin is an incredible programming language is because it improves the efficiency of the app. As in Java and other platforms, where you have to write a pile of code to make the app work, Kotlin requires a minimal coding practice. What might take you ages to compile with a different programming language, Kotlin allows you to compile it in a few lines of codes.
In a way, it dramatically reduces your time required to create an app.
Kotlin Requires Minimal Maintenance
The maintenance of Kotlin is fairly easy compared to other programming languages operating in the coding stratosphere. The platform offers a significant number of IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), which makes the maintenance of the app code fairly easy compared to the rest of the market. One of the reasons why we believe Kotlin has become significant among Android developers is because of the range of SDKs and IDEs the programming language supports. When coupled with the right toolkit, there’s no doubt the programming language holds the ultimate potential which makes it a favored choice among Android developers.
Kotlin is Also an Interoperable Language
Kotlin is a fully interoperable app, which means that the programming language can share data with Java easily. If there are certain Java codes that you want to leverage in Kotlin programming language, you can easily transfer these codes to Kotlin and program your Android app experience accordingly. It’s one of the reasons why many Java developers can easily adapt to Kotlin. The language itself allows maximum liberty to coding experts so they can enhance the efficiency of their apps by improving the bulky code formats pre-designed on Java. With Kotlin, they have the freedom to reduce these code lines to a bare minimum and create a much more efficient app then it was before.
Kotlin is Very Reliable for Android
Because of the programming language’s inter-compatibility and bare minimum maintenance, it has surely become a reliable programming language for Android development. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg because, with Kotlin, you get fewer bugs, better support for functional programming, no more null-point exception, complete support for IDE Android Studio, and in fact, a whole lot more.
A Few Drawbacks…
Surely nothing is dot-point accurate or perfect. Just as everything has their fair share of flaws, so does Kotlin. But are they that grave? For that, we did a bit of our exploration and concluded.
Kotlin was found guilty of,
- Fluctuation in compiling speeds.
- Very minimal community support.
- A budding developer community.
No wonder Kotlin has gained significant traction among Android app developers, but there’s still a gap in the application programming language. The gap exists because of a relatively small community and it’s one of the reasons why people are not adopting Kotlin at the moment. If there’s a problem you encounter while coding on Kotlin, a developer might require a lot of research or go through a trial & error method to fix the coding issue completely. However, when it comes to syntax & speed, Kotlin sure does leave some of the world’s best programming languages behind.
Many mobile app development companies around the world are now slowly adopting the Kotlin programming language for creating remarkable Android experiences. From AI-powered mobile apps to enterprise-level solutions, Kotlin is capable of providing the best coding practices to its respective individuals. It’s just a matter of time until Kotlin will become a hallmark in Android development.
Do you have something interesting to share about Kotlin? Feel free to leave us a message.
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Mohammad Ali
