Kotlin VS Java – Which is a better choice for Android App Development

Whenever you are getting Android app development services, the two words you most frequently hear are Kotlin and Java. These two have been the main languages prevalent in the market for a long time.

While there is no denying the fact that a visible shift been seen from Java to Kotlin and many Android app development companies have been seen adding the expertise of Kotlin to their portfolio, still the hold of Java has been so strong for the initial years that it’s not going to shakedown that easily. However, Kotlin has come with inherent features that do not let valuable existing information of Java go to waste.

To get a better picture let’s understand both languages in detail and what they bring to the table.

Java 

Java is an object-oriented programming language that was developed by James Gosling in 1995 and has continued to rule the Android app development industry for the longest time. It has been updated over the years to address ever-changing technology requirements. What has made it so functional and popular over the years is not because it can only be used to develop Android apps but other things as well. It can create any type of program and compatible with almost any type of machine.

Advantages of Java 

• -        One of the main advantages of using Java is that it is easier to learn.
• -     It has been around the industry for a long time so the community support of Java is extensive. It has one of the largest communities in the world where any query can be addressed. Plenty of Java libraries can help as it has a big open-source ecosystem.
• -         It is platform-independent and provides network-centric programming.
• -         Java works well for both native app development and cross-platform app development.
• -         It is a robust and dynamic language.
• -   Assembling large projects in Java is much easier due to accelerated assembly with Gradle.
• -        It helps you code more in a lesser amount of time resulting in a faster building process.
• -      Apps made from Java are lighter and more compact leading to the faster and swifter app experience.

Disadvantages of Java

• -     Since it is a type-heavy language, extensive codes need to be written increasing the chances of errors and bugs.
• -         Its performance can be slower than others.
• -         It takes up more memory space.
• -         A programmer has little to no control over garbage collection
• -         Due to inherent limitations, some problems arise with Android API design.

Kotlin

As Java struggled to meet the demands of industry, Kotlin was developed in 2017 and within a span of 2 years, it was declared as the preferred language for Android app development by Google in 2019. It is a cross-platform, general-purpose programming language that has been designed to interoperate with Java.

Advantages of Kotlin

• -    Kotlin is a much faster alternative to Java. What took 50 lines of code in Java can be accomplished within 2 to 4 lines of code in Kotlin.
• -     Kotlin comes with an inbuilt Null safety feature. The worst nightmare of developers has been now automated due to this feature. There is no need of writing any extra code.
• -      Kotlin helps meet tighter project deadlines owing to its swiftness.
• -      It helps in building clean APIs.
• -  With Java bytecode, you can use Java libraries and frameworks in Kotlin. This interoperability feature is what makes Kotlin stand out making use of existing knowledge. Developers can write modules in Kotlin which work seamlessly with existing Java code.
• -     It has no checked exceptions like Java. This was particularly problematic for developers as checked exceptions cause empty catch blocks and are often unnecessary. Kotlin decided to eliminate checked exceptions feature which has improved type-safety by a considerable amount.
• -    Kotlin does not allow raw types. While they do allow backward compatibility but also throw a CastClassException. To makes matter worse this error does not even appear in the compilation stage so that it can be fixed but comes in the execution stage. This led to a lot of wastage of time and effort. With no raw types, Kotlin makes way for a more type-safe code.

Disadvantages of Kotlin

• -    The learning curve with Kotlin is pretty steep and you have to start and learn from scratch to get a good grip on the language.
• -     The community is under the process of being developed. It has hardly been a few years that Kotlin made it to the industry hence you can seldom find answers to any hiccups. Everyone is still exploring and learning Kotlin.
• -      You cannot find a highly experienced developer for Kotlin as it’s still new in the market. For more Kotlin experts to rise it will take some more time.
• -      In most cases, Kotlin has a slower compilation speed compared to Java.

What should you choose? 

Now that a comprehensive comparison has been laid out in front of you, you can make a better choice for your business before availing Android app development services. However, there is a reason Google announced Kotlin to be the preferred language for Android app development by developers. Nearly 1.5 million developers used Kotlin for their projects in 2018 and this number has only doubled since then.

With its interoperability feature, Kotlin is setting a new benchmark by bringing ease and convenience for developers along with making use of valuable information that already exists. It reduces the overall development time and cost and is proving to be a good choice for developers and businesses alike. Your app experiences few crashes and clients are happy with reduced timelines, it’s a win-win. Some people expect it might take over Java completely one day. So choosing Kotlin does seem like a smart thing to do.

However, understand that the transition cannot happen overnight. The learning curve is steep if nothing else and it can take a little while to get the hang of it. The Android developers at Origami Studios have made the most of these few years in creating multiple apps in Kotlin. If you are looking to avail Android app development services with any preferred language you can find the experts here.