Java vs. Kotlin: Which is the Better Option for Android App?

5 min readNov 22, 2018

Kotlin brings forward goodness of modern languages inside android app development without any restrictions. Kotlin is fully compatible with java development kit 6 (JDK 6).

This means applications built with Kotlin can run on older Android devices and there will be no such compatible issues with build system of android.

Kotlin application constructed with bytecode structure which makes it as fast as a java application. Due to the support of inline functionalities in codes, it runs faster than Java. All existing android libraries of Java do have interpolation advantage of Kotlin so running these with java file becomes easier.

Kotlin has very compact application library and this speeds up further when the application runs in real time and the application file size is lesser.

Kotlin supports incremental compression. Which means it creates an incremental compilation and there is no overhead of files remains when final compression begins.

Incremental builds are faster than Java compiler. Many successful companies use Kotlin as their major language. Pinterest has successfully adopted Kotlin as their major application.

It is an image ready website and it is used by millions. Presence of Kotlin apps makes this website faster. It provides a great improvement of site’s quality and speed.

Programmers find that due to the presence of Kotlin as the main source of the code. Programmer finds that there are absolutely 30 percentages in a decrease of codes and 10 percentages in a decrease of method counts.

There is some Kotlin extension which makes normal and repetitive codes into synthetic compiler generator properties. Kotlin has some built-in libraries which replace Android APIs (application processing interfaces) and replace the layouts of.xml codes into Kotlin codes.
How to use Kotlin:

First, download and then install the latest version of Android Studio. It supports Kotlin. You can check out Google’s sample projects on Kotlin too. On the internet there are many tutorials about it and you should not find any difficulties while learning it.

Kotlin has a special relationship with Javascript. Kotlin codes can be transpiring in Javascript. The libraries, java development kit and java virtual machine framework cannot be transpired into the javascript. There are certain goals attribute to Kotlin compiler while creating compiling of codes.

It tries to create the optimal file size of the compiler. Compiler output can be readable with javascript. It provides extremely wonderful interpolaribility with its codes inside the compiler.

It provides the same functionality in the library standards where it is used either with JavaScript or with java virtual machines (JVM). If you are creating Kotlin code for the client-side Javascript then you can compile Kotlin into Javascript codes.

Kotlin provides a series of DOM elements which are a series of statically typed interfaces which work in fully compatible Document Object Model so that creation of DOM elements are possible.

WebGL is Google-powered graphics which speed up the website. WebGL is great for creating graphical user interfaces of the website and while using Kotlin it becomes extremely easier.

When you intended to create code that can target server-side javascript then Kotlin is the best option for you. By using Node.Js you can directly interact with server-side javascript.

Third party libraries and frameworks are JQuery and React. You can easily convert its application processing interfaces (APIs) into typed definition repository easily with available tools.

JetBrains developed and maintained many React community apps add its ‘Create React Kotlin App’ helps you build React app without build configuration.

Kotlin/Native is a framework used for compilation of native binaries for development of code which can run without any virtual manager (VM).

There is some operating system such as iOS from Apple which wants embedded targets for apps instead of virtual managers, the presence of Kotlin/Native code is sufficient for code compilation. It creates a self-contained program which can run on any environment without the need for virtual machines.

Due to its self-restrained compiler, the standalone self-contained container remains in smaller sizes for platforms that are platform and operating system dependent. Due to its interop libraries, and work in out of the box, the presence and support of native codes are fully possible.

Javascript target stays in the front-end of the developer environment and it is not considered experimental. The key features are it loads from within libraries and not about languages. In the latest development of Kotlin, the presence of key-feature is the implementation of coroutine execution.

Coroutine execution is part of the library not of code, and this means that it is platform independent. This means that once you create the code then you can use it on any other platforms. The million dollar question is what coroutine execution is.

It is a lightweight thread, which can be suspended and resumed one after another. This means it is supported through suspended functions. The work of suspended function is to suspend a coroutine and then start again.

In the case of starting of coroutine functions after suspension, the presence of an anonymous suspending function is there which is better known as suspending lambdas.

In this above code, we understand that async… starts the coroutine, and when await … is applied then coroutine is suspended and the operation waiting to be executed at the same time. On a different thread when the coroutine is executed and the operation awaited completes successfully.

The newer version of Kotlin removes restrictions of subclasses of the primary class and in this way, the same data classes can be used in the nested classes of the sealed classes.

Kotlin uses the nice form of Java and it fixes a series of Java functions that issues are there with Java and now it is cleared in Kotlin. Kotlin controls null references through the type system.

There are no raw types of Collins for Java codes. Arrays in Kotlins are present in the form of invariant. It remains unchanged with reference to functions, quantity or properties when some specific transformations from other functions are applied but still, main functions remain unchanged. Kotlin does not have checked exceptions. It does not use wildcards while using the site variance.

There are some shortfalls in Kotlin languages too. Java has checked exceptions, primitive types and not every object is taken into classes, static members, wildcard types and operators. But Kotlin has few powerful objects and classes which java does not have.

Kotlin presents users with performance custom control structures through Lambda expressions plus inline functions to provide performance drive custom control structures.

Apart from this Kotlin provides extensions in functions, null-safety, smart casts, string templates, properties, primary constructors, first-class delegation, type inference for variable and property types, singletons, declaration site variance and type projections, range expressions, operator overloading, companion objects, data classes, separate interfaces for read-only and mutable collections and coroutines.

While comparing the properties and conveniences attached with java and Kotlin we do find that Kotlin is modern and provide extreme conveniences for users to write good coding language so that perfection of writing a code with lightweight, platform independent and optimal compiler makes it a charm to use and write apps.

Related Posts:

Sources & References:

https[:][//]guestpostblogging[.]com[/]kotlin-programming-language-android-app-development[/]
http[:][//]kotlinlang[.]org[/]docs[/]reference[/]android-overview[.]html
https[:][//]kupdf[.]net[/]download[/]kotlin-for-android-developers_59a05e2ddc0d60992a18496b_pdf

Originally published at mohanmekap.com on November 22, 2018.

Java vs. Kotlin: Which is the Better Option for Android App?

Written by Mohan Manohar Mekap

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