KOTLIN vs JAVA — The Great War of Android App Development

The android app development space recently saw the declaration of Kotlin as a primary language for building apps at the I/O 2019. Aside from Java, Kotlin is one of the languages for which every company is racing to rent a coder for android app development

Even Software Development Companies are now moving to Kotlin over Java for android app development, as an increasing number of business clients are inquiring about the same.

Kotlin vs Java is one of the trending topics these days. When it comes to Android app development, Java language is the one which first hits the mind of coders. And, Java programming language is everywhere.

However, Kotlin has arrived now with significant improvements in android app development as we have already seen this in one of the famous articles “How android app development became Kotlin first”.

So, both Java and Kotlin offer strong competition to each other. Thus, we have done a great comparison of both Kotlin and Java language.

Source — NPM-TRENDS

This article aims to answer some questions related to both Kotlin language as well as Java language. We will discuss benefits, major differences based on various parameters, technical differences and much more.

Java & Its Benefits

Java is a programming language created by James Gosling. Using this, we can create any type of program, it is also compatible with almost any type of machine. It is in Linux operating systems, Windows and also for mobile devices in Android.

Currently, Java has one of the most important and largest communities in the world. This language, both on the Internet and in the computer field, is very important. Java can be used to do almost anything.

• Java is platform-independent and easy-to-learn
• It allows you to create modular programs and reusable code
• It provides network-centric programming
• It carries security features and high performance
• It is robust, dynamic and programmer efficient language.

Kotlin & Its Benefits

Kotlin is a programming language created by JetBrains. It was announced at Google I/O as the second official language of Android app development. Since then, it has been steadily maintaining partnerships with Google cloud platform, Gradle and the Spring framework. Its creators believe that developing an Android application can be faster and more fun, and its community is growing continuously.

Many companies involved in mobile app development have already begun to hire Android app developers who are adept in Kotlin rather than Java.It is Open Source & costs nothing to adopt

• The programs are written using Kotlin use existing Java Frameworks & Libraries
• It compiles to JVM bytecode or JavaScript
• Kotlin can be learned easily and it is approachable
• Kotlin’s null-safety is great
• Automatic conversion of Java to Kotlin
• Code reviews are not a problem in Kotlin

Kotlin and Java Compared

1) Interoperability

It is the core purpose of Kotlin. From the beginning, the intention of the project was to use existing knowledge and experience so that all libraries are available to Kotlin programmers. Developers can simply write modules in Kotlin that work perfectly within the existing Java code. By issuing the Bytecode, a Kotlin compiler allows the two languages to work in unison in the same project.

The ease of interoperability is of good use if you’re looking to Hire Dedicated development teams to convert your previously Java-based android app into a kotlin-powered one.

2) Raw Types

Before generics, raw types were used quite frequently. Raw types allow backward compatibility, but raw types can generate a CastClassException and the error will occur during execution and not at the compilation stage. Kotlin does not allow unformatted types and, as a result, produced a more secure code for the type.

3) Built-in Null Safety

The Kotlin type system has zero built-in security. The infamous NullPointerException is largely responsible for the development errors of Android and Java. Android is based on null to represent the absence of a value, but null can easily destroy an application. Kotlin solves this problem by incorporating inherent null security. This addition prevents developers from writing additional code to solve the problem.

4) Brevity

Brevity is a crucial factor in productivity. Writing large projects becomes easier when a developer receives more power for each line of code. A key observation here is that Kotlin does not overlook understanding for brevity. The syntax is concise and still substantially legible.

Many developers praise Kotlin for being concise. This is a quality that Java is not known for; however, readability must always take precedence over concision. Yes, the succinct nature of Kotlin simplifies the work of a developer and leaves less room for error, but Kotlin does not practice conciseness for the sake of conciseness.

5) Checked Exceptions

The exception feature checked in Java can be problematic. Checked exceptions are when the compiler forces the caller of a function to capture or (re-throw) an exception. The fact is those proven exceptions are often unnecessary and cause empty capture blocks. Proven exceptions that do not exist are a nuisance for developers because they are forced to check the code to identify a possible exception that never occurred. As a solution, Kotlin eliminated them completely, which again minimizes verbosity and improves type security.

There are many programming languages like Lua, C/C++, Clojure, etc. to develop android apps. But Java is the one which springs to the mind of developers first when they think of android app development. Nowadays, Kotlin has gained tremendous attention after this year’s Google I/O.

This is the reason why kotlin vs java become the hot topic of discussion among app developers.

Some of these technical differences are discussed below:

-> Short code with no findViewByIds

Kotlin class as compared to Java class is more concise when they are performing the same task. In fact, it is the Kotlin which can reduce boilerplate code by using indViewByIds in particular areas. You don’t have to write findViewById method again once Kotlin android extensions allow developers to import a reference to a View into the Activity file.

-> NullPointerExceptions problem

For developers, NullPointerExceptions are the major source of their coding frustrations. In Java, each variable is assigned to a null value and calling object reference which carries null value is like to force yourself to deal with NullPointerException. However, in Kotlin, by default, all data types are non-nullable. So, if you return null value in the Kotlin code, it will show you a compile-time error.

-> Use of extension functions

Extension functions are not available in Java. But Kotlin gives its app developers the capability to extend a class with any new functionality if they feel there should be a class in this method but missing.

You can find the complete differences list here.

Now the question is:

Does Kotlin bring death to java language?

The answer to this question depends on the mixed opinions of mobile app developers. Since Java is a well-known programming language having various open-source tools and libraries in order to help app developers. But no language comes with perfection. In fact, Java itself can be complicated for many. For this, Kotlin has arrived which addresses common programming headaches with its effective solutions and also improve the Java ecosystem.

We now know that Kotlin has become a more stable and congruent development option for Android Studio. Some Android developers seem to believe that Kotlin will expel Java for mobile app development in the near future. On the other hand, some experts consider that Kotlin and Java exist in parallel without one surpassing the other.

In Kotlin vs java discussion, it is Kotlin which is clean, inherently lightweight and less verbose in terms of data classes, getters/setters and writing callbacks. It is specifically designed for improving the existing Java models using solutions to API design deficiencies.

Hence, we can say that Kotlin is not a replacement for Java, it’s an enhancement.

Conclusion:

As per the above comparison, it is clear that Kotlin is the winner as it continues to grow day by day. The documentation is very well implemented and it is much better than Java in terms of compatibility, security, syntax and functional programming. Android app developers finally have the pragmatic, modern, and intuitive language they’ve been waiting for. However, it all depends on preferences.

Kotlin is rapidly demonstrating that it is a superior programming language for the development of mobile applications and offers developers a lot of opportunities to experiment with modern programming. Developers can make the transition between OO, FP, scripting and declarative paradigms without any effort, easily establishing a new standard for what a programming language should be able to achieve.