Kotlin For Android Developers

There are currently several JVM languages we can try to use during Android app creation. Since the past decade, JAVA has been the only language promoting official IDEs from Google for creating Android apps. 

Since JAVA is an old language, developers may have encountered some obstacles in developing Android apps. Perhaps due to the language limitations, we might have felt a restriction on our imagination. 

JetBrains is creating a new language, KOTLIN, which is efficient but simpler than Java, to address those limitations. What is Kotlin android? Since Google has revealed its official support as a programming language, Kotlin received publicity. Kotlin for Android developers also provides developers with the ability to use Android Studio, the main Android IDE for Google.

What are the Benefits of Using Kotlin For Android Developers

Here are some reasons why you should use kotlin for android development:

1. Language and environment are mature

Compared to other languages like Swift, before the final 1.0 version, Kotlin releases have gone through several phases. It means that working with Kotlin is hardly problematic; everything works the way you would like. 

The IDE plugin functions smoothly, making many of your Java-like and functional features. Working with Kotlin is, therefore, excellent in this regard. It is worth noting that the language spent several years in alpha, then beta, until its final edition. And that people used it in actual projects long before the beta came out.

2. Android with Kotlin development much easier

Kotlin is strong, so if we’re from Java, we can’t imagine a new world of possibilities. It’s the only viable way to build great Android apps for Java. Other alternatives like Scala have an enormous weight and cannot be compared to compile times and tools. 

Today in Kotlin, compilation times are close to Java (it proved to be even faster in some tests), and the library that Kotlin Apps needs is very limited, so our method count will not increase so much.

3. It’s seamlessly integrated with Android Studio

It may not sound very wise, but it’s a huge benefit to work, including the first minute. We’ve already seen it if we tried, but in less than 10 minutes, we can set up a Kotlin project and work on it easily even though we don’t know anything about Kotlin. 

We need to install a plugin with Android 2.3, and in 3.0, the whole process will be implemented seamlessly. And it worked like Java: we could run from the IDE, debug without problems, do refactor, instant run… all we could imagine was there already and could be hired. Everything we could imagine will function.

4. Its evolution is well covered

Jetbrains is behind Kotlin, and they use it in their projects themselves, so they are more than interested in further improving it. Furthermore, we have two big enterprises working together to bring the best language and tools to our development environment, particularly Android, now sponsored by Google. All this shows Jetbrains’ hard work on Android from features such as Kotlin Android Extensions to librarians such as Anko, constant library size optimization, and built-up times.

5. You have to recycle if you are an Android developer

Working with Java 6 makes us obsolete programmers. Our minds begin to think differently once, however, when we use a modern language. And this new information is reflected in our code even though the language doesn’t change. 

In Java, we solve problems differently because only due to learning a language that embraces them. We have known concepts that we had never understood before. Moreover, the versatility is fantastic. 

After that, we looked at (and even used) a couple of android developer language like Swift, Groovy, Ruby, and understanding them was far simpler since they all use very similar concepts.

6. Companies are starting to ask for it on their job offers

Not only do businesses still use it, but others are beginning to be very interested in it. Businesses in Kotlin are beginning to invest money in training their employees, which can only be positive.

7. Kotlin has a multi-platform usage

Yeah, we don’t just learn to write android with kotlin. Kotlin for Android developers was first designed with JVM in mind so that it is practically possible to run the JVM on any computer. But Kotlin 1.1 (which until then had been experimental) published Kotlin JS finally so that we can build the front-end development with Kotlin too. 

But it doesn’t end there, because we can write our Gradle files in Kotlin thanks to the support from Gradle, and the future is essentially open for any platform, thanks to Kotlin Native.

8. Micro-niches are very advantageous

Although in most organizations, Kotlin is not implemented, some still use it. And if they expand, Kotlin experts will be important. Some people speak almost unused and super strange languages but, since they are one of the few language specialists globally, they earn a lot of cash. Soon after Google reveal, Kotlin will stop being a micro-niche, but there is still some time left for it.

9. It’s very easy to learn

One of Kotlin’s big advantages is that a Java developer could understand most of the code without ever writing a line from Kotlin. Since people at Jetbrain were greatly concerned, Java’s change was easy, with a language similar to what we already know. 

Due to the simple android developer language and the support of the IDE and the compiler, the language fundamentals can be done very easily. The only more complex part of it, outside of the Kotlin syntax itself, is to grasp the concepts that Java lacks.

10. It’s so fun to use

To conclude, developers find Kotlin very fun to use, though it is very subjective. Java has become boring because of its feature limitations, its boilerplate, errors due to its design problems. But Kotlin opens up a new world for innovation and a different approach to the same problem.

Conclusion

Kotlin is a developer-friendly language that enables developers to create unique solutions to problems regularly. With Google turning towards Kotlin for Android developers, big developers and multinational firms are heading towards it as many Java applications in Kotlin are currently being rewritten.

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