Java that once was ruling the realms of Android app development has now taken a backseat. Kotlin is the new head of the state, and doing preferably good, making Android apps faster and improving the quality.
Wait! Don't come to a conclusion so soon. Java is not going anywhere. It is just at the backseat, letting the Kotlin drive Android app development.
Android application development without learning Java is not possible, not at least if you want to develop a good Android application. Even to learn Kotlin, you must have a basic understanding of how Java programming language works.
Now, since Kotlin is the new trend, you must be aware of why it is gradually taking over Java, and how Google is strategically supporting the language to make it the first preference of mobile app owners and Android app development companies.
Benefits of Kotlin Over Java
The advantage Kotlin is it has been designed by JetBrains to overcome the challenges of Java. And so, it is gradually replacing Java in Android app development.
The company took almost 5 years to reach out its 1.0 version, minutely articulated every possible way it could help Android developers overcome the challenges of Java.
And they managed to gain an excellent result. Here's a list of benefits of Kotlin over Java.
- Interoperability with Java: It has tools and frameworks that are compatible with Java.
- Clear and Concise: Powered by Android KTX, Kotlin for Android app development is clear, concise, and practical. Kotlin extensions are a part of Android Jetpack family that helps optimizing Android platform APIs, and Jetpack for Kotlin use.
- Fail-safe System: Since the code is compact, the chances of errors are less. Besides, there are fewer application crashes and system failure incidents with Kotlin.
- Advanced Compiler: Kotlin has a smart compiler. It can detect errors at compile time and perform a check to reduce runtime errors.
- Easy to Maintain: The statically typed programming language support a wide range of IDEs, most importantly Android Studio.
Kotlin has been developed keeping Android developers in mind. JetBrains has kept its language design clean and made the syntax intuitive. Besides, it takes less time to write the code that ultimately boosts the developers' productivity.
Being an Android developer, you must know about these 5 Kotlin features that make Android app development faster, easier, and error-free.
5 Impressive Kotlin Features for Android Developers
At the moment, Kotlin is the new Android programming language and cannot be simply dismissed as a trend by Java Developers. For Android developers, it is essential to learn the language, especially when Android 3.0 fully support it.
Below are the 5 impressive features of Kotlin that will surely compel you to learn the language.
- Standard Library Functions
- Null Safety
- Collections and Streams
- Named Parameters
- String Interpolation
Kotlin programming language offers standard library functions which are extremely useful for the developers working on Android mobile app development project. It makes implementation of higher-order functions much easier with idiomatic patterns, such as let, apply, use, and others.
Additionally, it has numerous utilities to work with char and string sequences. Its Extension functions provide query operations for sequences and collections. Kotlin's JDK classes also make working with IO, files, and threading highly convenient.
Every Java developer must have been frustrated by NPE (NullPointerException) at some point in time. A special Null value can be assigned to an object reference, and NullPointerException, a RuntimeException is thrown when a program tries to use an object reference that has a null value. The exception can cause the program to terminate prematurely.
Since Java does not provide any information about the object not created by the developer has no null value, during the compilation time it put unnecessary pressure on the Java developer to keep the program null safe.
With Kotlin, you don't have to worry about this. Kotlin has the null-safety feature at the initiation age, which is by determining that values will be assigned to the null factor or not.
Kotlin's compiler is powered by the null-safe feature that prevents run-time Null Point Exceptions encounters.
Processing object collection is integral to the Java app development process. This is because objects are translated to different representations in this process, which causes several issues such as parallel stream can slow down the program, increased chances of reusing streams or accidentally creating "infinite" streams.
Kotlin programming language has rich functional API to return to immutable collections by default, because of the collections already have this functionality.
Named parameters are the common difference between Kotlin and Java programming language.
Where Kotlin provides a facility to assign default argument in a function definition, either by name or by option, Java does not provide support for method arguments or constructors. It allows by providing a builder class which has setters for different constructor parameters.
In Kotlin, string interpolation is done through string literals having placeholders are evaluated to achieve a result in which placeholders are replaced with corresponding values.
Handling strings in Java is often difficult, which include the use of plus operators, String.format, and StringBuffer. The simple process of String interpolation in Kotlin becomes complex for Java developers.
Conclusion
Kotlin is the simplified version of Java, and so Android developers just love it. And it is this reason, the programming language is strongly replacing Java in the Android mobile app development process.
As the language has a similar concept as Java, for experienced Java developers, it will not be difficult to learn Kotlin.
Also Read 5 Reasons to Choose Kotlin for Android App Development Java to Kotlin Migration: Top 10 Apps That Trustres Kotlin The Future is with Java or Python? 9 Tips to Hire Java Developers
