Why did Google developers choose Kotlin not JAVA for Android development?

Google says that Kotlin is used internally for Android development, and the experience much better than Java.

In her opening keynote speech at KotlinConf 2023, Grace Kloba shared the latest news from Google : Kotlin is almost entirely used internally for Android development at Google.

Kotlin started gaining popularity in the Android community around 2016. In 2017, Google announced the official support of Kotlin on Android and developed the language by creating the Kotlin Foundation together with JetBrains.

Today, Kotlin is the most popular Android development language.

Over 95% of the top 1000 Android apps use Kotlin, and over 50% of professional Android developers use Kotlin as their primary language (compared to only 25% choosing the Java programming language).

And in the annual survey, professional Android developers using Kotlin were 96.9 percent satisfied with the language, 9 percentage points higher than Java developers.

As the final step towards making Kotlin the single language for Android development, Google also announced that the Gradle Kotlin DSL will be the default build language for Android applications starting with Android Studio Giraffe.

Why did Google developers choose Kotlin not JAVA for Android development?

Google’s interest in Kotlin doesn’t stop with Android apps.

According to the Google blog , more than 45% of Google’s engineers using Kotlin use the language for server development. There are now over 15 million lines of Kotlin code in Google’s source control system, and that number is doubling every year.

About Kotlin

Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and also can be compiled to JavaScript or native code. It was developed by JetBrains, the same company behind popular IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio, and it is designed to be a more concise, safe, and expressive alternative to Java.

Kotlin has gained popularity in the Android development community since it became an official language for Android development in 2017. It can be used for both server-side and client-side development, and it has many modern features such as null safety, extension functions, lambdas, coroutines, and more.

Kotlin also provides seamless interoperability with Java code, which means that Java and Kotlin can be used together in the same project. This makes it easy to adopt Kotlin gradually and migrate existing Java code to Kotlin.

Overall, Kotlin is a versatile and powerful programming language that is increasingly being used in various domains of software development, especially for Android development.

What is difference between Kotlin and JAVA for Android development?

Kotlin and Java are both programming languages that can be used for Android development. Here are some of the key differences between the two:

Syntax:

Kotlin has a more concise and expressive syntax compared to Java. This means that Kotlin code is often shorter and easier to read. For example, Kotlin supports type inference, which means that you don’t have to specify the type of a variable explicitly.

Null safety:

Kotlin has built-in null safety features, which help prevent NullPointerExceptions that are common in Java. Kotlin’s null safety features make it easier to write code that is more reliable and less prone to crashes.

Interoperability:

Kotlin is designed to be fully interoperable with Java, which means that you can use Java libraries and frameworks in Kotlin code, and vice versa. This makes it easy to adopt Kotlin gradually in an existing Java project.

Functional programming:

Kotlin has better support for functional programming concepts such as lambdas and higher-order functions. This makes it easier to write code that is more concise and easier to read.

Coroutines:

Kotlin has built-in support for coroutines, which are a lightweight and efficient way to handle concurrency. Coroutines make it easier to write code that is asynchronous and non-blocking.

Overall, Kotlin offers several advantages over Java for Android development, including a more concise and expressive syntax, built-in null safety, better support for functional programming, and built-in support for coroutines.

However, Java is still a widely used language for Android development, and both languages have their own strengths and weaknesses depending on the specific use case.

Why does Google choose Kotlin to develop Android?

Google chose Kotlin as an official language for Android development for several reasons:

Interoperability: Kotlin is designed to be fully interoperable with Java, which means that you can use Java libraries and frameworks in Kotlin code, and vice versa. This makes it easy to adopt Kotlin gradually in an existing Java project.
Concise and expressive syntax: Kotlin has a more concise and expressive syntax compared to Java, which makes it easier to read and write code. Kotlin’s concise syntax can help developers write code faster and with fewer errors.
Null safety: Kotlin has built-in null safety features, which help prevent NullPointerExceptions that are common in Java. Kotlin’s null safety features make it easier to write code that is more reliable and less prone to crashes.
Community support: Kotlin has a growing community of developers who contribute to the language and its development. This community support can help developers solve problems and learn new things about the language.
Modern features: Kotlin includes many modern language features, such as lambdas, coroutines, and extension functions, that are not available in Java. These features can help developers write code that is more efficient, expressive, and easy to maintain.

Overall, Google chose Kotlin because it offers many advantages over Java for Android development, including its interoperability with Java, concise and expressive syntax, built-in null safety, growing community support, and modern language features.

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