Kotlin: a language that revolutionizes the development of mobile applications.

Ana Julia Fernandez -

There are numerous programming languages to develop software, and one of the most recent and popular is Kotlin, designed for the development of Android apps.

In our article last week, we were talking about Java as a programming language, its characteristics, advantages, among others. Today we want to tell you about Kotlin, a language that, in particular, is used by us at e·Saurio and that is revolutionizing the development of Android applications.

What is Kotlin?

It is a programming language that was initially designed for JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and Android, combining features of functional and object-oriented programming. Kotlin primarily focuses on interoperability, security, clarity, and tool support. Versions of Kotlin targeting JavaScript ES5.1 and native code (using LLVM) for various processors are also being produced.

This programming language originated from JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ IDEA, in 2010, and has been open sourced since 2012.

Now that you know what Kotlin is, we'll tell you a little about its most outstanding features:

  • Precise: Kotlin is more concise than Java, it is estimated that with this language, 40% of lines of code are reduced compared to Java.
  • Interoperability: Kotlin is highly interoperable with Java. You won't have any difficulties using Kotlin in a Java project.
  • Feature-rich: Kotlin provides several advanced features, such as operator overloading, Lambda expressions, string templates, etc.
  • Easy to learn: Kotlin is an easy to learn programming language. If you have experience in Java, it will be easy for you to learn Kotlin.
  • Less error prone: As mentioned before, Kotlin is a statically typed programming language, which allows you to catch errors at compile time, as statically typed programming languages have this feature.

Kotlin vs. Java

We have already listed some of the great advantages and features that Kotlin has, but here a debate arises - Which is better, Kotlin or Java?

Java has a long history within the largest communities in the web world. However, the use of Kotlin is increasing day by day, especially to develop mobile applications on Android. What makes them different?

It is a very difficult question to answer, because, as we told you in our article Java: a language that provides speed and ease of use, Java is one of the most widely used programming languages worldwide when developing mobile apps, but It is not the only option. Here are some of the differences:

  • In Java, a lot of redundancy results in longer, verbose code. Kotlin is more modern and has been simplified, making it easier for beginners to learn.
  • Kotlin has addressed a number of Java issues, such as no raw types, null references being controlled by the type system, or no checked exceptions. This makes it a very useful language for developers.
  • Also, Java has other problems regarding endless blocks, lack of extensibility, or lack of support for functional programming.
  • Java syntax is very verbose, especially compared to a modern language like Kotlin.
  • Compared to Java, Kotlin is more secure. Kotlin is Null Safe, that is, by default the objects are not-null and if we try to assign a null to a variable directly, it will not compile. However, Java is very error prone.
  • Developing with Kotlin can achieve a 40% reduction in the number of lines of code compared to Java.

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