Kotlin Vs JAVA – Which is Better Option for Android App Development?

While the world is going gaga over the ‘oh-so-awesome apps on the Android platform, what stays behind the scene is the revolutionizing innovations that are empowering the Android app developers worldwide. While Android mobile app development since its inception has been powered by the goodness of the Java technology, the community since 2017 has been introduced to the next level of mobile app development – thanks to Kotlin.

Kotlin (named after an island in Petersburg, Russia) is a statically typed programming language developed by JetBrains. Although it came into existence in 2011, it made heads turn when it was acknowledged as Google’s official language during Google I/O 2017 and was included in Android Studio 3.0.

Fig. Kotlin’s user base has increased from 0.1% in 2011 to 46.8% in 2017 following GoogleI/O announcement

Kotlin runs on JVM (Java Virtual Machine), but its biggest advantage is that it can also be compiled to JavaScript source code or by using the LLVM compiler infrastructure.

Techtic Solutions is a progressive mobile app development company that unleashes the power of this revolutionary technology, as the arrival of Kotlin gives coders an alternative to the traditionally used Java for Android development.

Read More: 10 Reasons Why Developers are Switch to Kotlin for Android App

Java is an Object-Oriented and general-purpose programming language that helps to make java programs as well as applications on some platform. Java comes up with a bunch of benefits that let you stick with it. Let’s discuss the advantages of using the Java programming language.

After reading the advantages of JAVA then you have a question that why JAVA is not used by android developers because there are many open source frameworks like Kotlin, Flutter, and some cross platform app development platforms like Xamarin, Ionic, etc. So, Android app developers prefer the above framework for android app development instead of JAVA.

Java has also got some downsides that you should know before starting over. Let’s discuss the disadvantages of using Java.

A comparison between the performance of both the programming languages shows that both of them are equally competent and share the same scale.

More than 50% of the professional Android developers now use Kotlin to develop the apps. And in the latest Stack Overflow developer survey, it ranks as the fourth-most loved programming language. Let’s do a friendly Java vs. Kotlin comparison to demystify the best of both technologies.

More so, Kotlin is also found to share several syntaxes like Java.

Android app developers coding with Java have always been dealing with the NullPointerExceptions wherein, if a null value is assigned to any of the object references, this exception is thrown. However, Kotlin steers clear of this problem – all thanks to its inherent null-safety feature. Unless specifically marked as “nullable,” no variable in Kotlin code can hold a null value. So, even if you do assign a null value mistakenly, the code will fail through the compilation process.

Java and Kotlin work seamlessly in tandem, sans the risk of any error within the same kotlin project. This interoperability is a boon for the coders as both Java and Kotlin classes can reside concurrently in the project. This does away with the need for full project conversion (to Kotlin), or having to initiate a project from scratch – thus seamlessly allowing Kotlin programs libraries to be used in Java projects, while upholding the legacy Java codes intact.

Kotlin is redefining verbosity when it comes to the volume of coding required as against Java development, for carrying out the same function. Considering Kotlin is designed as a more compact language than Java, Kotlin Android Extensions allows the references to be quickly imported into Activity files (within Views), and that View can then be used in the code as part of the Activity.

So, you do not have to rewrite the ‘findViewByld’ method for each case. All you need to do before using the Kotlin extensions is add a plugin in the build.gradle file (within the module).

Checked exceptions are synonymous with Java, as Android app developers are known to catch and declare’ the exceptions, while it’s not a prerogative when it comes to Kotlin app development. It is seen that many developers still prefer to go the traditional way of checked exceptions (preferring to build a more robust and effective code), with greater emphasis on error recovery.

However, there is a catch. Lengthy pieces of code can make things cluttered. The absence of checked exceptions in Kotlin makes things simpler, even though it relies on individual ‘developer’ preferences.

This is, however, not applicable in Javas there is no such increase in the run time sizes of .apk files. To make matters worse if it may, the increased file size can cause issues mainly with apps download. Java, however, has the edge in this context as there is a relative dearth of complex Kotlin examples online.

While Java offers built-in support for Android developers to perform implicit widening conversions with numbers every time; coding in Kotlin requires undergoing similar conversions but explicitly (as implicit conversions are not supported). Here the Java framework has the added advantage as smaller data types are converted to larger types under the hood, taking into note their efficiency and simplicity.

The arrival of Java 8 has made life easier for Android developers as support was finally extended for lambdas, but there are still limitations when it comes to features. Kotlin, on the other hand, is a lot more developer-friendly as it allows variables to be able to store functions for later use.

Lambdas are supported in Kotlin, and that too with other higher-order functions (taken as parameters), like callback functions. Also, with Kotlin coders get to perform the same function just by adding a keyword (‘data’) inside the class definition. While in Java you create new fields and constructors for data storage; in Kotlin, all ‘getters/setters’ are auto-generated by the kotlin compiler.

Kotlin recently announced the release of Kotlin 1.3.20, which comes with a new bug fix and tooling update, along with improvements to the compiler and IDE.

While Java 8 (being mainly procedural) boasts of features like type annotations, lambda expressions, and method references on Android; Kotlin app development brings the best of procedural and functional programming for java developers. Kotlin in short, is unassumingly an enhancement on Java, rather than a substitute.

Kotlin 1.3.20 is here!

— Kotlin (@kotlin) January 23, 2019

So, if you are an expert Kotlin app developer with vast experience in Java, working on Kotlin will be a cakewalk considering its more progressive, lightweight, and well-versed language. How has been your experience working on Kotlin? We’d love to hear from you.