Genel Archives | Kotlin Institute

Kotlin: The New Contender for Better, Faster, and Safer Code

If you’re considering learning a new programming language, Kotlin might just be the language for you. In this article, we explore why Kotlin is quickly becoming a popular choice for software developers and why it offers advantages over other programming languages. We’ll discuss the benefits of Kotlin’s concise and expressive syntax, built-in null safety, and support for functional programming constructs.

Kotlin Programming Language

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and it was created by JetBrains in 2011. Since its inception, Kotlin has been steadily gaining in popularity as a viable alternative to Java, and it has been adopted by many major companies, such as Google, Uber, and Pinterest. In this article, we will be discussing three key questions about Kotlin: Is Kotlin better than Java? Why is Kotlin not popular? and Can Kotlin replace Python in the future?

Is Kotlin Better Than Java?

One of the most significant advantages of Kotlin programming language over Java is its conciseness. Kotlin allows developers to write more expressive and concise code, which in turn leads to fewer errors and faster development times. For example, Kotlin has a streamlined syntax that eliminates boilerplate code, such as semicolons and braces. Kotlin also has null safety built into the language, which means that developers don’t have to worry about null pointer exceptions that are common in Java. Additionally, Kotlin has support for functional programming constructs, which make it easier to write code that is more reusable and maintainable.

Why is Kotlin Not Popular?

While Kotlin has gained a lot of traction in recent years, it’s true that it hasn’t yet achieved the same level of popularity as some other programming languages, like Java or Python. There are a few factors that contribute to this:

Java’s dominance: Java has been the dominant language for many years and is deeply ingrained in many software development ecosystems. This makes it difficult for any new language to gain widespread adoption, even one as powerful and expressive as Kotlin.
Hesitancy to change: Many developers are hesitant to switch to a new language, even if it offers significant advantages over their current language of choice. This is because learning a new language takes time and effort, and there is always a risk that a new language won’t catch on in the broader development community.
Lack of educational resources: Kotlin is still a relatively new language, and as such, there may be a shortage of educational resources available for developers who want to learn it. This can make it more difficult for developers to get started with Kotlin and may be a barrier to widespread adoption.
But don’t worry, we are here to help! Kotlin Institute offers amazing courses for all levels of programmers.
Target audience: Kotlin is primarily targeted at the Android development community, and while it is gaining traction in other areas, it may not be the best choice for every development project. This narrow focus may limit Kotlin’s appeal to a broader audience.

Despite these challenges, Kotlin programming language has already been adopted by many major companies and is increasingly being used in a variety of different development projects. With its many benefits and powerful features, it’s likely that Kotlin will continue to gain in popularity in the years to come.

Can Kotlin Replace Python In The Future?

Python has been around for over 30 years and has become the go-to language for many data science and machine learning applications. Additionally, Python has a massive community of developers and users, which makes it easy to find support and resources for any project. However, Kotlin programming language is gaining traction in the Android development community, and it is possible that it could eventually become a popular choice for building machine learning and data science applications on the JVM.

So, Kotlin is a powerful and expressive programming language that offers many advantages over Java. While it has not yet achieved the same level of popularity as Java or Python, it is gaining traction in the software development community and has already been adopted by many major companies. As more developers become familiar with Kotlin’s features and benefits, it is likely that we will see even greater adoption of this promising language in the years to come.

Popular Android Apps written in Kotlin

Here are some popular Android apps that are written in Kotlin:

Trello – Trello is a popular project management app that allows teams to collaborate and track their work. It was rewritten in Kotlin in 2019.
Evernote – Evernote is a note-taking app that allows users to store and organize their notes, ideas, and to-do lists. The Android version of the app was rewritten in Kotlin in 2017.
Coursera – Coursera is an online learning platform that offers courses in a variety of subjects. The Android app was rewritten in Kotlin programming language in 2018.
Pinterest – The Pinterest Android app was rewritten in Kotlin in 2018, and since then, the company has continued to use Kotlin for all new Android development.
Gradle Build Tool – Gradle is a build tool used for building Android apps. The tool itself is written in Java and Kotlin, with a growing emphasis on Kotlin.
Airbnb – The Airbnb app allows users to search for and book vacation rentals. In 2018, the company announced that they had started using Kotlin for all new Android development.

These are just a few examples, but there are many other popular Android apps that have been written using Kotlin programming language.

If you’re ready to start your Kotlin journey, you should take a look at our training catalogue! Here are some of our most popular courses:

Introduction to Kotlin

App Development with Kotlin and Java

Programming in Kotlin with Arrow

Kotlin Native – Fast Track

Kotlin for JavaScript

2022 Predictions: Does Kotlin have a future?

Kotlin's Future in 2022

In these first days of 2022, we are all trying to predict the year ahead. One thing is for sure, programming is receiving plenty of attention in today’s environment for its growing demand among programmers.

It seems that programming knowledge will not lose its importance for many years. However, new programming languages come out frequently, and some of them are adopted by all programmers, making old familiar languages a thing of the past. Therefore, it’s imperative that software developers take into account the trends in order to follow the ever-evolving technologies and stay relevant. As Kotlin Institute, we will briefly discuss the future of the Kotlin programming language and whether it will be up-to-date in 2022.

Android Development

Let’s look at the issue from the point of view of Android development. In 2022, learning android development is still very important – maybe even more important. Android applications are used in almost every type of business all over the world, and all leading companies continue to make serious investments in this field. Kotlin is the most popular language for android development. After Google’s announcement, we repeated many times that Kotlin was quickly learned and adopted by android application developers all over the world. Therefore, this year, Kotlin will probably appear most frequently in the field of android application development.

Android App Development with Kotlin Course

In our Android Application Development Using Kotlin course, you’ll discover the capabilities of Android app development and obtain the required skills to increase your chances of landing a job as a software developer or becoming a valuable employee. You’ll also have a leg up on other developers who are still working with old tools and Android versions.

What Will Make Kotlin Popular in 2022?

The following are the Kotlin trends we’ve identified will be prevalent in 2022.

Open-Source

JetBrains came up with Kotlin project 10 years ago and it was alway open-sourced. Kotlin Slack team’s support and advantages of open-source will always be big factors ensuring Kotlin’s popularity.

Brevity

Probably one of the biggest reasons why developers love Kotlin is its brevity. The concise design of Kotlin makes a developer’s job easier and reduces the possibility of error.

Coroutines

New API for “coroutines-test” and “dispatcher views” were announced in the new version of Coroutines 1.6 back in December. It also started to support the new Kotlin/Native memory-manager. And the coroutines library is now compiling against the Java 8 target. All these new features of Coroutines excited the Kotlin developers for sure:)

You can learn more about Kotlin Coroutines 1.6.0 by watching this new YouTube video of JetBrains.

Follow @kotlininstitute

Tweets by kotlininstitute

What Kotlin Is Used For? How Kotlin Is Different From Java?

What Kotlin Is Used For? How Kotlin Is Different From Java?

Hello and welcome to Kotlin Institute Blog! As Kotlin Institute team, we are happy to share our knowledge with you – not only with our high-quality courses but also in this blog. Today, let’s talk about Kotlin. We will answer your possibly first question: What is Kotlin and why should you learn it! If you are a Java developer, don’t forget to take a look at the end of our blog post where we will be discussing the difference between Kotlin and Java languages.

What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a free, general-purpose and open source programming language with type inference. Although this cross-platform and statically typed “pragmatic” language was built by JetBrains to work smoothly with Java, Java Virtual Machine (“JVM”) and Android, its’ type inference allows for more concise syntax.

The famous Czech software development firm JetBrains announced Kotlin Project in July 2011 as a new and better language for the JVM. Kotlin quickly became quite popular around the world and in 2019 Google has declared that they started using Kotlin for Android app development.

Kotlin’s most current version Kotlin v1.6 was launched in November 2021.

What Kotlin Is Used For?

Especially after Google’s official announcement in 2019, Kotlin has steadily gained in popularity over the last years. Let’s see the functions of Kotlin.

Android Development : Kotlin is a modern programming language preferred by over 60% of professional Android developers today. Learn more about it here.

Web Development : Although Kotlin has become an approved Android development language, it is also a full-stack solution. So, Kotlin is completely suitable for web development. Since Kotlin runs on the JVM, it can be used to create web apps utilizing various Java frameworks.

Kotlin Native : Kotlin Native was created to allow compilation on systems where virtual machines aren’t ideal or feasible – for example while working with iOS. Kotlin Native is preferred by developers when they need to create a self-contained software that doesn’t require a separate runtime or virtual machine.

Data Science : Python is the leading programming language for data science, there is no doubt. But Kotlin is also making its appearance. Especially developers who want to take use of the JVM’s features and performance while keeping their code short, prefer Kotlin.

Backend Development : Kotlin is very suitable for front-end development but it’s also used for backend development by many developers.

Kotlin vs. Java

First things first, what exactly is Java. Java is an object-oriented programming language that is free and open-source. Java is a multiplatform language that can run on nearly any device, operating system or server. It can also run on every Java Virtual Machine (JVM) because it is compiled to bytecode.

The differences between Kotlin and Java:

1. Null Safety is available it Kotlin, not available in Java.

2. Extension Functions are available in Kotlin for the developers to enhance the functionality of classes without needing to inherit from them.

3. Coding is less-required in Kotlin. This feature simplifies the developers’ job and allows less code error. Java requires more code lines and knowledge.

4. Static Members are always available in Java, while Kotlin doesn’t have static member for class – so you can’t create static method or static variable in a Kotlin class.

5. Kotlin provides Coroutines Support, unlike Java.

6. Java offers Wildcard Types and a wildcard is simply a question mark (?) in code that suggests an unknown type. As opposed to Java, wildcards are not available in Kotlin. Alternatively, Kotlin uses a declaration-site variance and type projections.

7. Smart Casts are available in Kotlin but not in Java. The smart casts function in Kotlin takes care of casting checks. While in Java, the programmer must examine the type of variables in relation to the operation.

8. Kotlin removed Checked Exceptions while Java still provides checked exceptions support.

Follow @kotlininstitute

Tweets by kotlininstitute

Kotlin Training Solutions

We deliver virtual and in-person Kotlin training for corporates globally. The Kotlin Institute team of experts cover everything from the Kotlin language basics through to the highly specialised course contents.