kotlin for android app development

Why shift to Kotlin programming language for developing android apps

Kotlin, the programming language that is going to be a next big storm in the world of programming applications. It is a modern programming language with the promise of developing modern multiplatform applications for Android, Browser, JVM and native applications. Android Developers website has expressed that it is 100% interoperable with present Android language and runtime.

The smart feature about the Kotlin is its ability to compile native and give support for various platforms without the JVM. At present Kotlin Native can be Mac OS, Linux Raspberry Pi and iOS application development.

Introduction of Kotlin

Kotlin programming language is developed by Jetbrains. Kotlin project was started in 2011 with the goal of developing a super powerful programming language that would complement the loopholes of the other existing programming languages like slow compilation time. Jetbrains wanted it to be as quick as Java in terms of compiling. Its first official stable version Kotlin v1.0 was first released on February 15, 2016. With this version Kotlin was committed towards long-term backwards compatibility.

In Google I/O 2017, Google proudly announced its support for Kotlin. As Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java, developers can already start writing Android apps in Kotlin.

Kotlin is a brilliantly designed, mature language that we believe will make Android development faster and more fun. It has already been adopted by several major developers — Expedia, Flipboard, Pinterest, Square, and others — for their production apps. Kotlin also plays well with the Java programming language; the effortless interoperation between the two languages has been a large part of Kotlin’s appeal.

Key Features of Kotlin

Android support for Kotlin is surely going to make the coding of Android apps easier, faster and fun. It works superbly well with the existing Android ecosystem as it is completely compatible with Java programming language. Developers can freely mix the two languages, Kotlin and Java, as freely as possible while programming within the single project.

Some of the key aspects of Kotlin are as follows:

  • It is nullable, there will not be any NullPointerExceptions during the runtime.
  • There will be named parameters and default arguments to keep a track of.
  • Variation of switch statement.
  • There will be smart casts, you don’t have to cast something anymore after you tested it.
  • Extention of existing functions
  • Simple and concise use of Lambdas.

Developers can get started with trying their hand and playing around with the coding online. Explore the all new Kotlin here.

Its simple and convenient to get started with Kotlin as it can go hand in hand with Java and C++ for Android platform. Adding Kotlin to your existing code is easy and an added advantage.

Kotlin has directly addressed some of the shortcomings of Java language. It will definitely reduce the load off the developer on other issues like compiling and runtime and developer can just focus on coding for the application. As Kotlin has made writing an Android application so much easier, it is definitely going to have a bright future.

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