Since the start of Android Development, Java was the leading language used by most Android Developers, in 2019, Google announced that their preference has changed to a new improved programming language Kotlin. The popularity of Kotlin has been significantly increasing over the last few years and it has become one of the most popular programming languages.
In this article, we are discussing what are the differences between Java and Kotlin.
Table of Contents
What is Kotlin?
Kotlin is an open-source programming language based on the statically typed programming language. Kotlin was developed by JetBrains in 2010. The best thing about Kotlin is, that it’s fully interoperable with Java. Its main purpose of it is to enhance and smooth the development process so that the developers can save so much more development time. Kotlin allows the developer to write less BoilerPlate code.
Kotlin can be applied for all kinds of development, for both back-end, front-end, or web. One of Kotlin’s main purposes is to make it accessible on various platforms and make it more effective while working with other languages.
At present, more than 60% of Android developers prefer this new programming language. Among the popular cellular applications utilizing Kotlin application development services are Pinterest, Uber, Airbnb, and others.
Kotlin’s main objective was to make it accessible on different platforms. Also to make it more productive when working with other languages. Nowadays, more than 60% of Android creators prefer Kotlin for mobile developments. Like Pinterest & Uber many popular mobile apps use Kotlin for mobile app development.
Pros of Kotlin
- Support for Interoperability with different platforms. Kotlin can compile to many platforms like JVM, Android, JavaScript, and Native. with Kotlin Multiplatform developers can extract a common code base that will target all other platforms once;
- Provide Less code and good readability. Since Kotlin is more expressive and straightforward than java, there will be less room for errors. Kotlin code has good readability. Since it envelops large lines of codes and syntax into a few lines of codes it’s very easy to read and solve errors.
- Kotlin offers Null Safety. NullPointerException is one of the most seen exceptions when comes to java or object-oriented languages. With Kotlin developers do not need to stress.
- NullPointerException anymore, Kotlin is an invalid safety programming language and you will never get a null exception.
- No checked exceptions, normally to control limited exceptions we have to add a try-catch to the caller of a function since it captures the exceptions of the called method. But most of the time it is impractical to have this since it will cause empty catch blocks which increase verbosity and also hinder the navigation of the code.
- No raw types. Since Kotilin doesn’t have any raw types there will be no ClassCastException which causes when you are casting a wrong class type.
- Anko library, with Kotlin developers, has an entrance the Anko library which provides extra tools and resources.
- Supports modern programming concepts, like higher-order functions, stretching functions, diplomats, and much more to help developers to build clean APIs.
Cons of Kotlin
- Developers will have to face a vertical learning curve when switching to Kotlin. The main motive is because of the language’s concise syntax;
- Slower than java when comes to compilation in some situations
- Community support is less and still rising when compares to java’s community support
- High declarative language and manages to generate huge quantities of boilerplate sometimes when corresponding JVM byte-code.
What Is Java?
Java was developed by Sun Microsystems back in 1995 and it is an Object Oriented Programming Language. It’s currently heavily used for so many areas like backed developments, hardware programming, mobile developments and etc. Many developers prefer java since it’s more reliable and secure and at the same time, it has access to a large number of other open source tools. Java is a language that matured so much with its long history.
Pros of Java
- Easy to understand and learning
- Java apps are lightweight and more compact. Therefore performance wise it’s very optimized
- Since java is an object-oriented programming language, it allows developers to develop modular apps and allow work with reusable codes.
- With the long history of Java, it shows so many full-pack libraries and instruments for android developers. Moreover, there is a broad range of community support that can be gotten when comes to solving problems and challenges
Cons of Java
- Since java is a verbose language it requires writing more code, which is a problem when comes to resolving issues and also for the readability of the code.
- Consist of several common exception issues and will have to put extra effort to handle those.
Kotlin vs Java: Will Kotlin replace Java?
Now, this is the most frequently asked question. will Kotlin replace java? The answer is No. Kotlin has so many powerful features and so does java. Both languages are there to treat us with improvised versions. Java and Kotlin can proceed hand in hand with android developments.
