What is Kotlin?
Kotlin is a general purpose, statically typed, and open-source programming language. It runs on JVM and can be used anywhere. It can be used to develop Android apps.
History of Kotlin
Kotlin was developed by the JetBrains team. A project was started in 2010 to develop the language and officially, first released in February 2016. Kotlin was developed under the Apache 2.0 License.
Why Kotlin?
- Concise
- Safe
- Interoperable
- Tool Friendly
Java VS Kotlin
Java
Java is one of the most liked programming languages for developers. The Java programming language is more than two decades old. Many specialists believe that Java is one of the most effective programming languages. Java is the most widely used programming language too.
Pros of Java
- Simple
- Object-Oriented
- Platform Independent
- Distributed
- Secure
- Allocation
- Multi-threading
Cons of Java
- Performance
- Look and Feel
- Single Paradigm Language
- Memory
What Java has that Kotlin does not?
- Checked Exceptions
- Primitive types
- Static Types
- Non-private Fields
- Wildcard Types
- Ternary Operator
Kotlin
- Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language that targets the JVM, Android, JavaScript, and Native.
- Kotlin supports all major Java IDEs including IntelliJ Idea, Android Studio, Eclipse, NetBrains.
Pros of Kotlin
- Back-end Development
- Concise
- Clear and Efficient
- Maintainability
- Compatibility
Cons Of Kotlin
- Compilation Time
- Experienced Kotlin Developers Very Rare
- Official Support is not great as java
- Extra Run Time
What does Kotlin have that Java does not?
- Lambda Function
- Extension Function
- Null Safety
- Smart Casts
- Singletons
- Range Expressions
- Data Classes
Conclusion
Kotlin is quickly proving itself to be a superior programming language for mobile app development. This article was an introduction to Kotlin programming language. In the second part, we will learn about Variables, Data Types, Operators, Comments, Loop Expressions, Returns, and Jumps.