Android Development: Kotlin V/S Java

A quick overview of Java and kotlin programming language for Android application development in a non-verbose manner.

Photo by Tinh Khuong on Unsplash

Most of the Android App developers favorite language is obviously Java. but technology is changing rapidly new programming languages were introduced into the market to replace existing programming language. Android is one of the huge gigantic markets in the world that generates a lot of global apps revenue. Here’s a detailed comparison of Java and Kotlin to help you decide which language will work best for your next mobile development project.

JAVA

Java is a popular general-purpose Object-Oriented programming language. It is fast, reliable, and secure. It is the second most active language on GitHub. It is developed by “James Gosling” in sun microsystems. It follows a philosophy of “write once, run anywhere” (WORA), that means compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation.

Advantages Of JAVA

1. It is easy to learn and understand.
2. It is platform independent.
3. It has a large standard API library
4. Android relies on Java — the Android SDK contains many standard Java libraries.
5. It has a large open-source ecosystem.
6. It has good community support that helps new programmers and developers to solve their issues very easily.
7. Apps that are built on Java are lightweight and more compact in nature.
8. Java has a good development speed.

Disadvantages Of JAVA

1. It requires a lot of memory.
2. We need to write a lot of code which leads to a higher risk of errors and bugs.
3. It is a much slower programming language when compared to other programming languages.

KOTLIN

Kotlin is a programming language introduced by JetBrains to add some modern features to Java that come in handy in mobile development. This is a strongly statically typed language that runs on JVM. In 2017, Google announced Kotlin is an official language for Android development. Kotlin is an open source programming language that combines object-oriented programming and functional features into a unique platform.

Advantages Of Kotlin

1. Learning Kotlin is easy the person with Java background.
2. It’s way more concise than Java, which means fewer opportunities for errors.
3. Java has limitations that cause problems with Android API design, that problems were solved by Kotlin.
4. It is also being used in backend projects such as Spring 5.
5. Interoperable with Java — you can write new modules in Kotlin and be sure they will work alongside the existing Java code.
6. Kotlin is compatible with all Java libraries and frameworks, the JVM, and can integrate with the Gradle or Maven build systems.

Disadvantages Of Kotlin

1. Apps that are build using Kotlin are having more complex computing process than Java.
2. Finding a Developer is not easy since it is a newly arrived programming language.

Conclusion

Java currently has steady growth, great community support, amazing code structure, and a really good adoption base for developers. while it comes to Kotlin it is newly introduced programming language adopting kotlin will be a little bit tricky choice.

Since both, the languages have their own pros and cons selection of programming language is based on your tastes and preferences.

If you choose Java, It has good community support and tutorials to learn. when it comes to kotlin it has a small community with fewer tutorials to learn.

Hope this article helps you to understand the main difference between Java and Kotlin and their scope.

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