The Beauty Of Kotlin Language
I have been working with Kotlin & Application development for around 6–7 months and after the release of Jetpack Compose 2 weeks back, things have improved a lot in the world of application developers.
Kotlin is not only used for Android development but also for multiplatform development and can be used for almost full stack development, it can also be used with Web development tools that we will further discuss.
At the end of this blog, I am quite certain, you will realize that Kotlin is the future of Development. As Kotlin has been inspired by java, one of the favourite language of developers around the world, it also has got big prospects.
THE POINTS THAT WILL BE COVER IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Applications of Kotlin
- The typing style in Kotlin
- Fast Development and its relation to Java & python
- Jetpack Compose
1. APPLICATIONS OF KOTLIN
A. IN JVM(Java Virtual Machine):
It is used to build Primary Applications & Console Applications.
B. When coming to Multiplatform, Kotlin is used to build:
Mobile application
Mobile library
Native application
Full-stack web application
C. Kotlin can also be used with Javascript tools:
- BROWSER APPLICATION
- REACT APPLICATION
We can use Kotlin/JS in combination with the popular framework React to build attractive and maintainable applications for the browser. React allows us to build web applications in a modern and well-structured way, with a focus on the reusability of components and the management of the application state. It is supported by a large ecosystem of materials and components created by the community.
3.NODE JS APPLICATION
Kotlin/JS provides the ability to transform your Kotlin code, Kotlin standard library, and any compatible dependencies on JavaScript. Kotlin currently uses Javascript to achieve ES5.
The recommended way to combine Kotlin with JS is through kotlin.js and kotlin.multiplatform Gradle plugins. They provide a centralized and convenient way to set up and control Kotlin projects for JavaScript. This includes basic functions such as controlling the bundling of applications, adding JavaScript dependencies directly from npm, and so on.
D. JETPACK COMPOSE:
- Jetpack for desktop uses kotlin and java to build beautiful applications for desktop using kotlin.
- Jetpack multi-platform uses kotlin along with java to build a multi-platform application that can run on both android & desktop.
SYNTAX OF KOTLIN
The Kotlin typing system has been carefully designed. It provides us with very comfortable nullability support, type inference, general protection and so on.
For instance:
In the way of instantiating objects, using static factory methods has several advantages over construction methods: The name of the factory method is easy for developers to understand. You don’t have to create a new object every time you call, for example, you can pre-cache the instance. Any subtype of the primary type can be returned.
OBJECTS
Objects are similar to classes — they can contain variables and functions. The difference is that everything inside the object can be accessed by any class in the same package as the object. This means that multiple classes can access and modify variables inside the object.
This is useful for a variety of techniques, including singleton objects and simple packaging of encapsulated functions:
FAST DEVELOPMENT & EASY
Kotlin is a modern statically typed programming language used by over 60% of professional Android developers that helps boost productivity, developer satisfaction, and code safety.
Some major reasons to use Kotlin are :
1.Kotlin is much safer than Java
2. Interoperability
3. No semi-colons
4. No cost to adoption
5. You’ll uncover application faster with less complexity
6. Quality improvement in the application
7. Kotlin for Android is The obvious learning curve
RELATION TO JAVA & PYTHON
Kotlin combines the functions of object-oriented programming and functional programming, while Java is limited to object-oriented programming. Kotlin allows users to create extended functions, while Java does not provide any extended functions. Kotlin does not provide implicit conversion, while Java supports implicit conversion
Python is mostly used for Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence and in some places at the backend. Whenever we use the ML Kit in Android & Desktop applications, we use Python as the main language for Tensorflow and Tensorflow-Lite. There are some common points between kotlin & python that are the syntax part, one does need to put semicolons & write whole codes like System.out.print, one can directly print by writing print, same as python.
JETPACK COMPOSE
Android
Jetpack Compose is Android’s modern toolkit for building native UI. It clarifies and quickens UI development on Android. In turn Instantly bring your app to life with less code, powerful tools, and intuitive Kotlin APIs.
Do you remember the days, when we used to make the frontend part with the help of XML & backend with the help of Java & Kotlin?
With the entry of Jetpack Compose, all can be done in one, you just write one code for both backend & frontend part. You write one code in Kotlin and all is done.
Jetpack Compose brings with it a lot of tools that make development quick and the UI part more refined.
The above code displays the following image in the split design method of Android Studio.
You don’t need to run the application to check this simple Hello World. You just need to split it and the latest features of Jetpack Compose like Preview
will show you the preview of the application just like it used to show in the XML part.
Desktop
Compose for Desktop provides a declarative and passive way to create user interfaces using Kotlin. Combine combinable functions to build your user interface, and enjoy the comprehensive tool support provided by the IDE and build the system-no XML or template language required.
Compose for Desktop targets the JVM and utilizes the powerful native Skia graphics library to support high-performance, hardware-accelerated UI rendering on all major desktop platforms (macOS, Windows and Linux/x64).
Multiplatform
Recently, JetBrains released a multi-platform implementation of its Jetpack Compose, which can now use a shared UI. Basically, multi-platform Compose can now be used on Android and JVM. The latter can run on Linux, macOS and Windows.
Since navigation and UI can now be shared, we can create almost cross-platform applications. Why is it so close? Because some parts may still require platform-specific APIs. This is actually a big advantage, you can choose what to share.
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