Why Should you use Kotlin in your Android App Development?
If you are interested or involved in developing mobile apps, then you should know about Java. In recent years, there has been the emergence of an efficient alternative to Java called Kotlin. Two important reasons for the popularity of Kotlin are its ability to solve certain key issues with Java and the official stamp from Google as the android app development language. But some developers are still not comfortable with Kotlin. Below are some details regarding the unique benefits of Kotlin with android mobile app development.
What is Kotlin?
Kotlin is a robust and advanced programming language that has several user-friendly features to be briefer than Java. Despite being announced in 2011, it has gained loads of popularity only after the official support from Google as the first prioritized language for Android development.
Even though Java has been leading as a strong and trusted language for several years, it still has some key issues. With Java becoming old, Kotlin has all the abilities to replace it in terms of usage. With the similarity of Apple’s Swift and Kotlin, there is an advantage for iOS and Android app engineers to shift between the two platforms as per their requirements.
Kotlin can interoperate with Java code even though its syntax is not compatible with the Java language. But Kotlin employs stronger inference to control the kind of expressions and values if they are not mentioned properly. Some distinct advantages make Kotlin unique from Java that generally needs tedious type specifications. The precise advantages of Kotlin are discussed below.
Why should you consider Kotlin for android app development?
Modern and valuable: Java has been used and familiar to several app developers in the previous years, but there have been loads of innovation in recent years. Android app development has been revolutionized with several cutting-edge approaches and standards one of which is Kotlin. It is highly modern, valuable, and more flexible than Java offering game app developers the ability to adapt to changing challenges.
Also Read: How much does it cost to develop an educational app?
Backward Compatibility: One of the popular aspects that make Kotlin ready for usage is its backward compatible nature. Since Java generates a similar bytecode as Kotlin, there are no worries about any compatibility issues. Developers can easily call Kotlin code from Java or vice versa without any hiccups. Kotlin offers comprehensive support for various types of advanced devices that are employing older versions of Java codes. You can employ Kotlin in the existing project that is connected to Java without hiccups. This makes Kotlin the best choice for developers who want to move on from Java especially for avoiding the drawbacks. The syntax of Kotlin is simple and any app developer with a programming language can get used to it once they start working.
Inventive: Several app developers have been using Java for many years but are witnessing its obsolete nature with certain key drawbacks. Developers are encouraged to use much advanced Kotlin to add additional worth to their learning abilities along with extra value to the profile. Getting used to Kotlin and writing codes will make the developer’s approach more inventive and also enhance the efficiency in their work. By employing modern and trendy technology, they can add worth to their profile. This innovation will help the firms to get productive outcomes by aiding their customers with creative solutions.
Minimal code: Kotlin has this favorable nature which only requires minimal lines of code for a similar feature in Java. Minimal lines of code imply that the overall size will be smaller when compared to the Java counterparts. It has been proven across several instances where the Kotlin files after conversion from Java have smaller file sizes than their equivalents. After the developers start using Kotlin and get used to its relatively simple syntax, they find that it is more readable. It is brief that decreases the boilerplate code which is the routine task of developers.
Safer: One of the major advantages of Kotlin is its easy-to-use nature than Java. It demands additional effort and resources for every venture concerning java code that is trickier than Kotlin. A wider acceptance of one issue in Java is the way it handles the Null Pointer Exception or popularly known as NPE. The majority of issues caught by testing experts in Android app development are related to NPE. To handle this issue, developers must fix all the Null pointer Exceptions that may be arising in the code by inserting null checks. This issue of nulls can be existing in the code if there is no value assigned to any object. But Kotlin resolves these issues by its nature itself where nulls will not be present by default. NPEs will be caught at the compile-time without crashing the apps during runtime due to null safety being introduced into Kotlin’s type system.
Cutting edge tools and ADE: Kotlin is inbuilt with advanced tools and ADE to offer comprehensive support for Android projects with just a need of downloading and installing the software. One of the highly exciting aspects of Kotlin is its ability to let the Android studio plugins for altering the Java files to Kotlin with a simple method. Kotlin will adapt with all the Android studio plugins and every IDE feature of the installed Android Studio. There will not be any tentativeness in the Android project as you will have the opportunity to blend and compile Kotlin and Java codes. The switching from Java to Kotlin becomes an easy affair for app engineers with the easy conversion of Java files into Kotlin.
Also Read: Cost to develop e-learning App like Byju’s
Final thoughts:
If you are looking to develop an efficient Android app for your efficient app idea, your success is dependent on the app development team. Join hands with a smart mobile app development expert like Brillmindz that possesses a team who are well-versed with all advanced technologies to develop a profitable app as per your requirements. The team has the experience of developing user-friendly android apps and taking it to long term success.
