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Java isn't the only programming language a developer can utilize to create Android apps. Apart from Java, the most robust Java Virtual Machine (JVM) language present in the Android ecosystem is Kotlin - a relatively new programming language developed by JetBrains. This statically-typed language has gained a tremendous amount of popularity among app developers. Especially, in the past two years following the announcement of the Android team at Google I/O 2017 keynote. Kotin has now become an official programming language for developing apps. The blog discusses the advantages of Kotlin over Java in Android.

What is wrong with Java as a programming language?

Back in its heyday, Java was widely used as the only programming language for developing apps. But these days, Java does not support vital backports such as lambda expressions, streams, and method references. The only hassle with Java is that a user must use third-party backports for Android App Development.

Furthermore, the biggest fault in Java is the way it deals with "null", which ultimately leads to the Null Pointer Exception (NPE) - also known as the Billion Dollar Mistake. We list below a few reasons why Kotin excels over Java and how it can help your business grow:

Kotlin is easier to grasp and learn

One of the greatest perquisites of Kotlin programming language is that any aspirant of Android App Development can master Kotlin and one does not even require any prior knowledge of app development. Moreover, if a developer is an expert in Java or C# coding, learning Kotlin is an easy task. One can write it in quick time.

It is much safer compared to Java

The ability of Kotlin to prevent common programming errors by design makes it a much safer coding language than Java. This inbuilt aptitude of this coding language reduces application crashes and system failures. Kotlin prods developers to rework on the potential problems commonly faced by them during coding, thus helping them develop a more robust code.

Consistency in data is better so choose kotlin over Java

Unlike Java application development, Kotlin provides complete control over the consistency of data. This is beneficial for Development of Android App aspirants because they do not have to undergo the pains of using manual command system to keep up with data consistency. Besides, developers using Kotlin have plenty of option to change the command system.

Kotlin enhances development tasks

The various features of Kotlin ensure seamless execution of every-day development tasks. This is something which Java does not provide. The handy features such as extension functions, the parameter values, object declarations, etc. all hasten the development time while consistently sustaining the code base.

Kotlin offers reliable codes

It is one of the many computer-programming languages. It provides precise and reliable codes. App developers often face problems. These problems link with runtime errors, failing to release syntax, and not working on the null pointers accurately. The app developer, here, should be aware that correcting null pointers will help them to successfully develop an appropriate code devoid of errors. Kotlin provides all these benefits.

In conclusion, it can be understood that Kolin, as a programming language, is beginning to replace Java in almost all aspects of app development. With the handy features of Kotlin, the future of Java seems bleak. In the near future, Kotlin is likely the new replacement for the same - making the life of app developer a lot easier.

While developers sometimes are highly enthused when implementing modern technologies that are not robust, new tools to get developers motivated to write the best codes. And with six years of vigorous growth and development, Kotlin has a good commercial footing.

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Kotlin vs Java- Top 5 benefits of Kotlin over java for Android Development

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Java isn't the only programming language a developer can utilize to create Android apps. Apart from Java, the most robust Java Virtual Machine (JVM) language present in the Android ecosystem is Kotlin - a relatively new programming language developed by JetBrains. This statically-typed language has gained a tremendous amount of popularity among app developers.

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Lots of amazing companies, such as Pinterest, Netflix, Lyft, and Capital One (not to mention Udacity!) have embraced Kotlin in their tech stacks. And ever since Google announced official support for Kotlin for Android development, there has been a huge surge of interest in the language. Now Udacity, in partnership with Google, has announced the new Kotlin Bootcamp for Programmers course. This is a free course where you'll learn the essentials to start building your own Kotlin projects.

But why should developers learn Kotlin? In this article, we'll look at Kotlin's benefits and explain why YOU should seriously consider adding it to your skillset.

Here are six reasons why every developer should learn Kotlin:

1. Kotlin experience is in demand

The Realm Report, which surveys global mobile developers about the languages they use, declared that 2018 would be "the year of Kotlin." The study finds that 20% of the apps built in Java before Google I/O 2017 are now built in Kotlin. This surge in use is reflected in the growing call from companies for developers with Kotlin skills. Take a quick look at Glassdoor, for example, and you'll find that many "Android Developer" roles at major companies now ask for Kotlin experience as an essential requirement. Realm forecasts that Kotlin will be the dominant language for Android by the end of 2018, so demand for Kotlin skills is clearly set to continue its remarkable growth.

And it isn't just in Android! ITJobsWatch found that the number of job listings requiring Kotlin skills had jumped 345 places in their ranking of all IT roles in the last six months. This included around 20% of listings that were looking for Kotlin in combination with server-side development skills like Spring and AWS.

2. You'll develop projects faster

Kotlin requires fewer lines of code to do the same things as other programming languages. It is an inherently concise language, so can solve many common development problems with just a few lines of code. For example, you can filter a list using a lambda expression like this:

val positiveNumbers = list.filter { it > 0}

And if you want a singleton, you simply create an object with:

object ThisIsASingleton {
 val companyName: String = "JetBrains"
}

Kotlin keeps things brief by adding powerful, concise abstractions that don't affect the readability of the code you create. This means you can write code quickly spend less time in code review, leaving you more time to deliver the additional features your users request. This quote from an article on Techbeacon.com explains this benefit really well:
"Developers love clean, concise code. Less code takes less time to write, less time to read, and is less susceptible to bugs...[JetBrains (the organization that created Kotlin)] understood the pain developers face in day-to-day developer workflow, and with Kotlin it has attempted to address those."
3. You'll improve the quality of the apps you build

Kotlin improves the quality of your released apps through "safety" features that have been designed to reduce the number of bugs and system failures. For example, it has a strong type system based on null-safety. This means by default, variables can't be null, so you can catch more errors at compile-time before shipping to users. This is really useful. Null references were famously called a "billion dollar mistake" by their inventor, Tony Hoare. This is because of the innumerable computer errors and system crashes they have caused since their inception in 1965.

4. You can use it with existing Java libraries

Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java, so apps you've already built can be migrated to Kotlin incrementally. You don't need to stop using Java-you can use both! Extension functions give you a way to add functionality to existing classes (even Java classes) without a full rewrite to Kotlin. This means you can take advantage of Kotlin's powerful features without having to abandon all the skills you've gained while building existing apps.

5. It's officially supported by Google for Android development

Google announced official support for Kotlin at Google I/O in May 2017, saying:
"Kotlin is a brilliantly designed, mature language that we believe will make Android development faster and more fun ... Many, many developers have told us they love the Kotlin language. (Many of our own developers on the Android team have been saying similar things.) ... The Android community has spoken and we listened.
Just a year later, and Google told the audience at I/O 2018:
"35% of pro developers use Kotlin ... more and more Android development is going to Kotlin and we're committed for the long term."
Google's commitment means Android Studio 3.0 fully supports Kotlin development, so you can get started without needing to learn a new tool. You can convert between Java and Kotlin code through a simple button click within Android Studio.

6. There are many resources for building your skills

Anyone who has ever used Java will find Kotlin's functionality very recognizable, so learning Kotlin is straightforward. There are great resources available to quickly learn basic syntax and more advanced topics-start by looking at the language reference and try solving some Kotlin Koans (interactive exercises designed to help developers become familiar with Kotlin). The Kotlin developer community is a great resource for expanding your knowledge, and is growing rapidly. The Kotlin Slack channe l is particularly active and is regularly recommended by new developers.

The professional and business benefits for learning Kotlin are compelling. It improves developers' productivity, makes debugging easier (because there's less code to inspect), and increases the pace of app development. It's easy to learn and can be used within existing apps because of its interoperability with Java. These benefits help explain why it's such a hit with developers.

If you're ready to start learning Kotlin, sign up for the Kotlin Bootcamp for Programmers, developed in partnership with Google.

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6 Reasons Why Developers Should Learn Kotlin | Udacity

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Lots of amazing companies, such as Pinterest, Netflix, Lyft, and Capital One (not to mention Udacity!) have embraced Kotlin in their tech stacks. And ever since Google announced official support for Kotlin for Android development, there has been a huge surge of interest in the language.

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Kotlin, a new programming language, has gained an astounding amount of interest among developers in the past two years-especially following Google's #IO17 announcement supporting it as an official language for Android apps. On Udemy, learners taking Kotlin courses spiked by 95% last year, making it the #1 hot tech skill for 2018. So what makes this language so special, what are the benefits of Kotlin vs. Java, and how can it help your business?

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What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and can, therefore, be used anywhere Java is used today (which is virtually anywhere). This includes server, client, web, and Android development. It's developed by JetBrains who are currently working to bring Kotlin to embedded systems and iOS as well, potentially making it a one-stop language for all application areas.

What makes Kotlin so popular among developers is its clean language design and powerful features. Its goal is explicitly not to introduce new concepts, but to bring together programming language features that have proved to be beneficial for large-scale projects.

Who's using Kotlin?

Although Kotlin can be used anywhere Java is used (and soon in more places), it is currently predominantly used for Android app development, spurred on by Google's official support. Companies using Kotlin to stay competitive include Google, Trello/Atlassian, Pinterest, Kickstarter and Uber to name just a few.

9 Benefits of Kotlin vs. Java

The first version of Java was released over 20 years ago. This inevitably adds legacy baggage to the language because each newer version must be compatible with the previous. As a modern language, Kotlin has the natural advantage of being able to leverage all the language design expertise gained in the past 20 years and focus on state-of-the-art features that have proven to work well. Here are 9 benefits of Kotlin vs. Java and ways it can improve your business.

1. Kotlin is more concise

First, Kotlin is way more concise than Java in many cases, solving the same problems with fewer lines of code. This improves code maintainability and readability, meaning engineers can write, read, and change code more effectively and efficiently. Features such as type inference, smart casts, data classes, and properties help achieve conciseness.

2. Kotlin code is safer

Kotlin code is inherently safer than Java code because it prevents common programming mistakes by design, resulting in fewer system failures and application crashes. When using Java, certain error causes are more likely to occur again. Kotlin nudges developers to think about potential problems with their code explicitly, hence helping them write more robust code.

3. Kotlin has better support for functional programming

Functional programming is a development paradigm that allows developers to solve many tasks more easily and consistently. It was also introduced in Java 8, but Kotlin has better support for functional programming. In short, functional concepts can be used more concisely and explicitly with proper function types. Also, performance can be improved via inlining which is not currently possible in Java.

4. Kotlin speeds up every-day development tasks

In addition, Kotlin offers a myriad of handy features that facilitate every-day development tasks-something Java does not offer. These include default parameter values, object declarations, extension functions, and many more. All these help speed up development time while keeping the code base more maintainable.

5. Kotlin helps reduce errors and bugs in the code

The Kotlin compiler aims to fail-fast whenever possible. This greatly facilitates searching for bugs and can even prevent them in the first place.The Kotlin compiler performs many checks, avoiding runtime errors and reducing the cost and effort of error fixes.

6. The code base shrinks and increases in quality

Technical debt can be mitigated to some degree by migrating to Kotlin. "Technical debt" is the deadweight developers carry due to shortcuts made in programming, often to reach a deadline. It slows down future development and reduces productivity. It can be minimized with Kotlin because the code base shrinks while increasing in quality (maintainability, readability etc.) at the same time. Implemented correctly, this means fewer lines of code that are easier to maintain. Reports of such migrations often speak of reducing lines of code by 20-30%.

7. Developers will be more satisfied and excited about their work

According to RebelLabs' survey of over 2000 Java developers, Kotlin is the technology they're most excited about using, and the one they're most satisfied with as well (9.1 of 10). JAXenter even proposed Kotlin as a potential candidate for the programming language of the year 2017 due to the satisfaction stats, its ascent in the popular TIOBE index, Google's official support, and its own survey which confirmed that Kotlin catches the interest of a surprising portion of JAXenter's readers (C was ultimately awarded the title). However, due to the increasing preference for Kotlin by developers and its easability of use, adopting Kotlin can help keep your engineers more satisfied and engaged on the job.

8. Engineers can take their skills to the next level

Lastly, developer expertise will improve while learning about Kotlin. Java developers will be able to learn Kotlin well enough to use it very quickly. As they dive deep into the language, they'll learn about good compiler and language design, asynchronous programming challenges and solutions, why certain language design decisions were made, and more.

What's essential is that developers don't stagnate at a basic level of understanding Kotlin. This will lead to Kotlin code that looks like Java code and is neither more concise nor safer. If this occurs, there is no point in migrating over to Kotlin. Developers must familiarize themselves with advanced concepts of the language now and learn to write idiomatic and beautiful Kotlin code. That way, the investment is very well worth the effort. The first step to adopting Kotlin at your company will be to train your developers to become well versed in Kotlin through my beginner Kotlin course and advanced Kotlin course both offered on Udemy and Udemy for Business.

9. The Kotlin community supports developers

Kotlin has brought together a thriving and supportive community that is highly responsive and open so that developers can connect to share expertise and get their questions answered, for instance in the active Kotlin slack channel.

With the increasing adoption of Kotlin, there are also more resources available for developers every day, including online courses, books, and tutorials. There are now thousands of StackOverflow questions on Kotlin which provides a go-to resource for developers.

Last word: Migrate to Kotlin in small steps

Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java, making it possible to use Kotlin code from Java and vice versa. This is crucial for migrating even large software projects from Java to Kotlin step-by-step and allows developers to use the myriad of Java libraries from Kotlin seamlessly.

Ultimately, introducing Kotlin at your company is not a small task and has to be well planned. But there's no need to migrate completely right away, thanks to the seamless interoperability with Java. A good way to start the process is to introduce Kotlin in non-business-critical code to enable initial evaluation and let developers gain experience. For example, test cases can often be greatly simplified using Kotlin. While migration to a new programming language can seem daunting, in this case, the benefits of Kotlin outweigh the costs.
Peter Sommerhoff is an Udemy for Business and Udemy instructor teaching web and software development to over 25,000 students around the globe. He has been using Kotlin since its beta release in late 2015 and is the instructor of both a beginner Kotlin course and an advanced Kotlin course on Udemy that also covers its use on Android. You can find him on Twitter as @petersommerhoff or on his Facebook page.

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Kotlin vs. Java: 9 Benefits of Kotlin for Your Business | Udemy for Business

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Kotlin, a new programming language, has gained an astounding amount of interest among developers in the past two years-especially following Google's #IO17 announcement supporting it as an official language for Android apps. On Udemy, learners taking Kotlin courses spiked by 95% last year, making it the #1 hot tech skill for 2018.

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Java is, undoubtedly, the most popular and widely used programming language for Android app development. It was the default code development language used for Android until Kotlin came into play. Google, at its I/O conference 2017, left decision makers and entrepreneurs in awe by announcing Kotlin as a new coding alternative for Android platform.

Its debut as an official Android coding language has gotten many business users skeptical about Java's persistence. For decades, coders and programmers have relied on Java to build innovative products for Android users. It has been the most loved language by developers around the world and shall remain.

Benefits of Using Kotlin For Android App Development

1. Easy to Set Up:
Previously, developers had to use a plugin to add Kotlin into their Android projects. But with Android Studio 3.0, using Kotlin forAndroid development has become a whole lot easier. You simply need to tick the 'Include Kotlin Support' box while configuring your new project in Android Studio.

2. Interoperable With Java:
Kotlin is a Java-based programming language and interoperable. You can seamlessly call Java code using Kotlin and vice-versa. This makes it easier for you to use Kotlin in your existing project with your old Java code. Both the languages generate similar bytecode. So, you can write simple parts of your app using Kotlin to get familiar with its constructs and syntax. The rest of your code can still be in Java. The Kotlin-Java mix can work very well for your Android project and you can opt for converting your entire Java codebase into Kotlin, eventually.

3. Minimizes Boiler Plate Code:
'Boiler Plate' in the programming context means the lines of code that you add to your app's codebase but doesn't actually add to the function of your code. Kotlin uses various handy tricks and methods to help you significantly reduce the extra lines of codes and create relatively smaller file sizes. The fewer lines of code further enhance the speed of your app development lifecycle.

4. Includes Synthetic Extension:
There are a plethora of extensions out there which simplifies the process of Android development using Kotlin. One such extension is called 'Synthetic'. It is an extension that lets you remove the cumbersome findViewByID method to make navigating the coding environment easier. Developers used this method previously to interact with views. Now you can access the views directly with just a single line of code.

5. No More NullPointerExceptions (NPEs):
NullPointerExceptions (NPE) has been one of the most common causes of app crash. Fixing the nullpointerexceptions and protecting your code using null checks is quite a time-consuming and daunting task for developers. But with Kotlin, NPE is a thing of past as null safety comes baked into the language's type system. This lets you catch the NPEs during the compile time instead of the app crash at runtime.

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5 Major Kotlin Benefits For Android Development

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Java is, undoubtedly, the most popular and widely used programming language for Android app development. It was the default code development language used for Android until Kotlin came into play. Google, at its I/O conference 2017, left decision makers and entrepreneurs in awe by announcing Kotlin as a new coding alternative for Android platform.

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Diana Maltseva Oct 4 '18
In accordance with Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2018, Kotlin is the 2nd most loved programming language and the 4th most wanted in the world.

Recently, TechBeacon digital platform included it in the list of 5 emerging languages with a bright future. In 2017, at Google I/O annual conference, Kotlin was announced as an official language for Android development.

Uber, Trello, Basecamp 3, Shadowsocks, Evernote, Pinterest, and Coursera have already used Kotlin in their Android applications. Why is Kotlin becoming so popular? What great functions does it include?

Perhaps, you should think about learning this technology and/or moving your projects to it? Let's get deeper in the question, Kotlin advantages, features, and versions.

Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language, created by JetBrains company, located in San-Petersburg. Providing full compatibility with Java, it runs on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), enables to write less code, has readable syntax, and can be compiled to JavaScript source code.

The main advantages of Kotlin
1. Kotlin allows writing less code
Less code is important but there is readability that also should be considered and desirably improved. With Kotlin, you receive them both. JetBrains did their best to make the language as concise as possible, and they managed to do it.

Less code, when done right, results in fewer bugs. When you let framework take care of certain mundane aspects of coding, you can focus on more important things. Kotlin is all about high readability, simplicity, and the facilitation of the app development process.
2. It solves developer challenges
Kotlin came from the industry, not academia. JetBrains needed a simpler tool than Java to work with their main product, called IntelliJ IDEA, totally written in it.

They investigated the alternatives, stayed unsatisfied, and decided to invent their own language. The goal was to get an effective tool that could be used together with Java and work everywhere where Java can.

So, Kotlin solves challenges faced by programmers. For instance, the type system helps you avoid null pointer exceptions. Research academic languages tend to not have null at all, but this is of no use to software engineers working with large codebases and APIs which do.
3. Adopting Kotlin is easy
If you want to facilitate the product maintenance or streamline custom Android app development, you can assign two or three engineers to move the project to Kotlin starting from a small part of the code base.
4. Kotlin is fully compatible with Java
Another advantage is that Kotlin programming language is fully compatible with Java. Kotlin developers have access to all Java frameworks and libraries while writing more clear and concise code.

So, Android engineers can use both languages when building a mobile product as well as migrate their applications from Java to Kotlin.

Even if you have a large Java-based project with millions of code lines, you can easily convert it to Kotlin one file at a time and you'll see everything still successfully compiling. Here in BLAKIT, we write our code in Kotlin and use Java only for maintaining old projects.
5. It imposes no runtime overhead
The standard library is small and tight: it consists mostly of focused extensions to the Java standard library. Heavy use of compile-time inlining means functional constructs like pipelines of map/filter/reduce compile similarly to an imperative version of the same code.
6. Kotlin has a strong community
JetBrains are constantly improving the language. It's committed to the project, has a large and highly competent team working on it, has a stable business model and is even converting parts of their own flagship product to use it.
7. Kotlin suits for the multi-platform development
Android development isn't the only thing you can use Kotlin for. The language provides JavaScript support and interoperability, enabling developers to move their frontends to Kotlin or create them in it from the very project beginning.

What's more, the founders added Gradle support so that you can write Gradle files in Kotlin. They are actively developing Kotlin/Native, which allows building iOS applications. This way, you can write even native apps in this language, too.
8. Kotlin development offers more safety
The Kotlin developers integrated into the semantics the principles that prevent a variety of common mistakes usually happening during the program execution. Another reason for Kotlin higher level safety (comparing to Java) lies in its benefits.

It enables the implementation of the same tasks with less time and effort. When the code is more simple and easy-to-understand, errors are more difficult to make and much easier to find, so the chances for them significantly decrease.

Also, check out the review of Kotlin useful features and the latest versions.

dev.to is where software developers read, write, and level up.
(open source and free forever ❤️)

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Why use Kotlin for Android development? Kotlin benefits, features, versions

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Diana Maltseva Oct 4 '18In accordance with Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2018, Kotlin is the 2nd most loved programming language and the 4th most wanted in the world. Recently, TechBeacon digital platform included it in the list of 5 emerging languages with a bright future.

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It's about time that you reconsider Java as your go-to language for your Android-based projects. And, it's about time to switch over to Kotlin, the (not so) new support language for Android development. But, what's behind its surging popularity amongst developers? In other words, what are the biggest advantages of Kotlin over Java?

Why should you even consider trying it as an alternative to the sometimes problematic, yet familiar and reliable Java? Now, here are some of the best answers to your questions:

First: What's the "Problem" With Java?

Just think about it: Java was released 20 years ago. Therefore, it has been piling up a legacy baggage that's now dragging it down - each new version of Java has to be compatible with the previous one.

In short, competing with newer, lighter, more concise, expressive, and state-of-art feature-packed programming languages turns into an unfair challenge for Java.

Now, don't think that Kotlin's already eclipsed it! It's not even close - Java's still the official programming language for Android development.

Yet, it does start to show its limitations - and its age. The well-known issues challenging developers have started to grow from "all too familiar" problems to some major sources of frustration.

Its younger rival in Kotlin has two key advantages for winning over developers:

It leverages precisely the language design expertise built up over these last 20 years since Java's been around.

It's been packed with all the much-needed modern features that Java mobile developers have been longing for: programming language features that have already proven their efficiency with large-scale projects

Introducing Kotlin: The Newer Language Running on Java Virtual Machines

Now, if Java's been the go-to programming language for all Android matters, Kotlin here is the "one-stop language" for all application development.

Being entirely interoperable with Java, you get to use Kotlin code from Java and the other way around. It's easy to compile to Native or JavaScript for developing code that can run on iOS, as well. Kotlin's versatility is just... mind-blowing.

Here's how Andrey Breslav', Kotlin project's lead, motivates JetBrain's decision to develop this open source, statically typed, (JVM-based) language in the first place:

"We have a huge Java codebase developed over a decade, IntelliJ IDEA, and we wanted to switch to a better language without abandoning the code we already have".

Some of the main goals of Kotlin's development team are rapidly becoming some of the biggest advantages of using Kotlin over Java. Kotlin is:

efficient and presents a familiar development tooling that is meant to boost developers' productivity;

a good compiler;

a seamless integration with the existing infrastructure (Kotlin's compatible with all Java frameworks and libraries, and it's designed to integrate easily with Marven and Gradle build systems, as well);

and, provides an enhanced run-time performance.

Since it's completely interoperable with Java and designed to run on the Java Virtual Machine, you can use Kotlin anywhere that you'd normally use Java.

And, this "bi-directional use" of Kotlin will only enable you to:

1. tap into the massive Java codebase that has built up over these last 20 years;

2. and, leverage its modern features designed to streamline mobile development.

The 8 Biggest Advantages of Kotlin Over Java

Now, let's get straight to answering the question that's been bugging you:

Why would you even consider trying Kotlin in your future mobile app projects?

Here are the eight strongest reasons why, as an Android developer, you should start seeing this programming language as a viable alternative to Java:

1. It's Completely Interoperable With Java

As already mentioned above, one of the biggest conveniences with using Kotlin is that it's compatible with Java!

With all its tools and frameworks, you can just add these to your Kotlin projects - nice and easy -with no need to change the entire project in Java.

Therefore, it goes without saying that, once/if you make up your mind to switch over to Kotlin, migrating your project from Java is really a piece of cake.

2. It's (way) More Concise Than Java

And this is, undoubtedly, one of the biggest advantages of Kotlin over Java Android development: you are able to solve the same problems using fewer lines of code that can only translate into a more reliable code with fewer bugs and crashes on the UX side.

This is not to mention all the other benefits that derive from code conciseness, including code that is:

Eeasier to maintain

Easier to read

Easier to apply changes to when needed

Some of Kotlin's features that are "responsible" for its code conciseness are:

3. Safer Code

We've already settled that Kotlin's code is more concise, therefore it goes without saying that a concise, compact, and clear code is implicitly a safer code!

Being more compact, it allows fewer errors. And, I should mention here that it's by design that Kotlin prevents common programming mistakes, translating into:

Fewer crashes

A reduced number of system failures

"But, what do you mean precisely by "preventing mistakes from design?"
I mean that developers get encouraged to consider the potential issues that their code might present from an early stage of the app's development process. And, thus, Kotlin allows developers to be cautious and write more robust and stable code in production.

4. It Comes With a Smarter and Safer Compiler

Adding a good compiler has been one of Kotlin's development team's main goals when they created this programming language.

Here are some of the important aspects of the compiler in Kotlin:

Detects errors at compile time, not at runtime, leveraging the "fail-fast" principle

Performs lots of checks, reducing runtime errors and the number of bugs in the code

5. It's Easier to Maintain

It's not for no reason that Kotlin's a "one-stop language" for all application development - it supports lots of IDEs, Android Studio included.

Therefore, you're free to use all those already tried and tested development tools that you're comfortable with for maintaining your codebase at scale. This is another one of those "hard-to-resist-to" advantages of Kotlin over Java.

6. It's Been Created to Boost Your Productivity

Another one of the key advantages of Kotlin over Java is that it has been built with developer productivity in mind.

And, it goes without saying that enhanced productivity goes back to concise code itself, including to its intuitive syntax and its overall clean language design. It'll take you less time to write new code in Kotlin, to deploy it and to maintain it at scale.

And, there's more to boosting developer productivity in Kotlin than just its concise and clear code. In this respect, this language's been "equipped" with lots of powerful features that speed up every-day development tasks:

Object declarations

Parameter values

Extension functions

7. It "Spoils" You with Better Support for Functional Programming

What does this mean?

It means that:

You can improve your mobile apps' performance via inlining

You can "joggle with" functional concepts in a more explicit and concise way

This is because Kotlin allows you to have proper function types at hand to use in this respect

8. It Has Null in Its Type System

Nullability issues have been one of Java's well-known sore points.Since it's a common thing in Android for the absence of certain values to be represented as "null," Kotlin comes to address these issues by placing null right in its type system.

Final Thoughts

Two things are for sure when comparing Kotlin to Java for Android application development:

1. Java isn't going anywhere, and it will be a long time until it gets completely phased out by Kotlin.

2. Kotlin, on the other hand, is here to stay and will get even more developer-friendly as time goes on. Specifically, Atlassian, Pinterest, Basecamp, Coursera have all implemented Kotlin's new features into their mobile apps

But, who am I to tell you that you should migrate from Java to Kotlin? I can only advise you to take it for a spin!

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8 Reasons to Use Kotlin Over Java for Android Development - DZone Java

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This post looks at using Kotlin instead of Java for Android app development, highlighting the age of Java as well as the improved conciseness of Kotlin code.