Why Kotlin is better than Java for Android Development
If you are familiar with the Android Development world, you might very well know that there are mainly two ways to create Android apps (native), the first one is by using Java and the second one is by using Kotlin. Using one over the other would not make an exponential difference in your app. However, there are a few perks of using Kotlin over Java for Android Development, and this is exactly what I’m gonna be talking about today. So, let’s jump right into it.
But first, it is necessary to know about Kotlin as a language. Kotlin was first released in February of 2016 and was developed by JetBrains, the same software company that has also developed major and very popular software like Android Studio, PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA, etc. Kotlin is a statically typed language. What does that mean? In statically typed languages, the data types are bound to the variables during the compilation. This means that the data type of each variable in the program is checked at the compile time itself. This makes it easier for us to find type errors in the code as the compilation halts if there are any. However, Kotlin does have type interference, in simpler words, it is smart enough to identify the data type of a variable and hence it is not necessary to state the data type every time you create a variable in Kotlin.
When Android Studio was launched in 2017, Java was the main language used for the development of Android apps, with Kotlin being a secondary option. However, since 2019, Google has considered Kotlin as the primary language for Android development, and developers nowadays are encouraged to opt for Kotlin instead of Java for making Android Apps. There are several reasons for this.
1. Conciseness:
Kotlin’s syntax is much more simple and more concise than Java’s, and this makes the code shorter and easier to understand. It has been said that it takes 40% fewer lines of code to write a Kotlin program than to write a Java program. Also, a bonus is that semicolons at the end of each line are not needed in Kotlin ;)
2. Null Pointer Exception:
If you have made Android apps with Java, you know exactly what this means. Null Pointer Exceptions are such a headache while using Java which causes apps to crash constantly. However, you won’t have to deal with such issues in Kotlin which is a big big plus.
3. Interoperable with Java:
Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java, which means that any Java program can easily be converted into Kotlin. Also, Kotlin offers some new features such as extension functions, lambdas, etc. Kotlin apps are also more reliable.
Since Google considers Kotlin as the primary language for Android development, almost all of the apps in the future will be written in Kotlin and new features that will be added will be centered toward Kotlin. This is also why there has been a significant boost in Kotlin developers in the last couple of years. Hence, due to all of these reasons, it becomes abundantly clear that Kotlin is better than Java for Android development.
