Versions of Kotlin targeting JavaScript ES5.1 and native code (using LLVM) for a number of processors are in production as well. Kotlin is designed to interoperate fully with Java, and the JVM version of its standard library depends on the Java Class Library, but type inference allows its syntax to be more concise. Kotlin mainly targets the JVM but also compiles to JavaScript or native code.

• For more information, check out the resource on Android development.
• An Android developer might choose Java over Kotlin if they are new to Android software development.
• Kotlin is simpler, making it easier for beginners to learn.
• Similarly, the var keyword declares a mutable property or local variable.
• We will also delve into advanced concepts such as coroutines, null safety, and functional programming in Kotlin.
• Kotlin was designed to be a better language than Java and interoperable with Java.

That said, Scala and Groovy both take a long time to compile so Jemerov wanted a new language that had all the benefits of Scala and Groovy but compiled as fast as Java. Rough estimates indicate approximately a 40% cut in the number of lines of code. It’s also more type-safe, for example, support for non-nullable types makes applications less prone to NPE’s. Other features including smart casting, higher-order functions, extension functions and lambdas with receivers provide the ability to write expressive code as well as facilitating creation of DSL. Kotlin has classes with constructors, along with nested, inner, and anonymous inner classes, and it has interfaces like Java 8.

Develop Mobile Apps Using Android Lollipop

When targeting JavaScript, Kotlin transpiles to ES5.1 and generates code which is compatible with module systems including AMD and CommonJS. When targeting the JVM, Kotlin produces Java compatible bytecode. Other IDEs and source editors, such as Eclipse, Visual Studio Code, and Atom, have Kotlin community-supported plugins. Kotlin has full out-of-the-box support in IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, and JetBrains Fleet with an official Kotlin plugin developed by JetBrains. It is developed under the Apache 2.0 license and the source code is available on GitHub. Kotlin 1.7 is the most recent version as of this writing.

Since Kotlin is interoperable with Java, you can slowly migrate an application to use Kotlin one file at a time while the rest of the application still uses Java. In Kotlin, to derive a new class from a base class type, the base class needs to be explicitly marked as “open”. This is in contrast to most object-oriented languages such as Java where classes are open by default. Class members are public by default, and classes themselves are final by default, meaning that creating a derived class is disabled unless the base class is declared with the open keyword.
The question of whether to choose Kotlin or Scala doesn’t come up often in the Android community. If you look at GitHub (as of October 2022) and search for Android repositories, you’ll https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ find about 50,000 that use Java, 24,000 that use Kotlin, and (ahem) 73 that use Scala. Yes, it’s possible to write Android applications in Scala, but few developers bother.

Can I use Kotlin for native development?

Abstract classes define abstract or “pure virtual” placeholder functions that will be defined in a derived class. Now, let’s dive deeper into this article and know the various unique features of Kotlin programming language. This Kotlin tutorial is designed for beginners as well as professional, which covers basic and advanced concepts of Kotlin programming language.

Programming languages are the building blocks of any software. To develop a software or an application, you need to be well-versed with various languages like Java, Python, PHP, etc. In this article, I will tell you what is Kotlin and its fundamentals.

With Kotlin/Native currently in the works, support for other platforms such as embedded systems, macOS and iOS is coming. People are using Kotlin for mobile and server-side applications, client-side with JavaScript or JavaFX, and data science, just to name a few possibilities. Kotlin is a statically typed, object-oriented programming language that is interoperable with the Java virtual machine (JVM), Java Class Libraries and Android.

You can see that functions are defined with the fun keyword, and that semicolons are now optional when newlines are present. The val keyword declares a read-only property or local variable. Similarly, the var keyword declares a mutable property or local variable.

Ultimately, Kotlin produces either Java bytecode, JavaScript-compatible code or native binaries based on the target platform. Class member functions are virtual, i.e. dispatched based on the runtime type of the object they are called on. Kotlin is a modern but already mature programming language designed to make developers happier. It’s concise, safe, interoperable with Java and other languages, and provides many ways to reuse code between multiple platforms for productive programming.

This means it’s not possible to assign a null value to a variable. Kotlin distinguishes between references that can hold a null state and those that cannot. For example, we can declare a regular variable type string as either capable of holding null values or not. Another major advantage of Kotlin is its safety features for null values.
DoorDash has a great case study of migration from monolithic architecture to microservices with Kotlin. Support for multiplatform programming is one of Kotlin’s key benefits. It reduces time spent writing and maintaining the same code for different platforms while retaining the flexibility and benefits of native programming.

The return type in Java precedes the prototype, but in Kotlin it succeeds the prototype, demarcated with a colon as in Pascal. Data Scientists have always used Java to crunch numbers, detect trends, and make predictions — so it only makes sense that Kotlin would find a home in data science as well. Following steps helps you to create and run a new Kotlin project in IntelliJ.
Data Scientists can use all the standard Java libraries that they used for Java projects but write their own code in Kotlin. Jupyter and Zeppelin, two tools used daily by many Data Scientists for data visualization and exploratory research, also support Kotlin. Kotlin was designed as a replacement for Java on the Android operating system. Eight years after it was released, in 2019, Google finally agreed with Jemerov and most Android developers and announced that Kotlin was the preferred language for Android app development. Kotlin’s interoperability with the JVM makes it compatible with existing Java code and allows businesses to leverage existing Java ecosystems. A microservice architecture is a software architectural style that structures a back-end application as a collection of services that are independently deployable and highly maintainable.
An immutable object is one whose state is unchangeable after it’s been declared. In Kotlin, immutable variables are declared as val, whereas mutable variables are declared as var. Kotlin’s key features are interoperability, safety, clarity and tooling support. Kotlin is designed to run on a JVM and can run side-by-side with a Java codebase. This means you can use Kotlin for Android development, back-end development or data science. Kotlin can be used for any kind of development, be it server-side, client-side web, Android.