Android Application Development - Java Vs Kotlin
Android applications have become an essential part of our daily lives. Businesses are now embracing them as an efficient means of communicating with the intended audience. Choosing the ideal programming language for Android development, on the other hand, is a challenging task. Until Kotlin made its surprise appearance, developers were satisfied using Java. Someone new to Android development is now forced to make a choice: should they use Kotlin or Java?
Java vs Kotlin
In this blog, we’ll compare Kotlin and Java to assist you in making an intelligent selection.
Java, which is currently the third most popular language on GitHub, powers a large portion of Android and its apps.
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| Java Programming Language |
What Is Kotlin?
JetBrains brought Kotlin to the world of development with the intention of making Java coding more effective, but it quickly became its own official programming language in 2018. Kotlin is a language of programming that can be turned into JavaScript and executed in browsers. It operates on a Java virtual machine (JVM). An Android developer may write code in Kotlin/Native and utilize an IDE to create cross-platform applications.
Kotlin Programming Language
Kotlin vs Java
Speed of coding
Kotlin and Java offer nearly the same coding speeds.
Kotlin, on the other hand, provides more minimalistic structures that allow a developer to type less. Finding a solution to a challenge takes longer than in Java, indicating that the language has a larger mental workload. Kotlin is an excellent choice for a creative thinker.
Java has a greater number of coding processes than Kotlin. As a result, a developer must spend less time brainstorming solutions.
Because the difference in coding speed between these languages is negligible, the conclusion for Kotlin versus Java in this category is a tie.
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| Speed of Coding |
Performance
Because both Kotlin and Java compile to ByteCode (which executes on the JVM), comparing memory utilization is difficult. As a result, measuring, tracking, and comparing their performance is difficult.
Because of its additional capabilities, Kotlin is more functional than Java. Because of Kotlin's Coroutines feature, it is also easy to deal with multithreading programs. Despite this, the language compiles and performs somewhat slower than Java, primarily to a large number of features.
Java, on the other hand, is simpler and has fewer additional features than Kotlin, allowing it to compile faster.
Because the
difference is so minor, the performance contest between Kotlin and Java is
likewise a tie.
Performance
Stability
One aspect where one may see a significant difference between the languages is stability.
Java is a programming language that has been around for a long time in the development world. Long-term support is provided for versions such as Java 8 and Java 11, which implies that if anything goes horribly wrong with these versions, developers will fix it with an update. A programmer can obtain a free license for various versions of Java.
Despite the fact that Kotlin is a well-established language, it is still younger than Java. There are no versions of the language that have a long-term support. Though both Java and Kotlin are considered stable languages, Java eventually wins in this category.
Stability
Documentation
Though both
languages have extensive documentation, it is easier to locate a lesson or a
book for Java because it has been in use for a longer period of time. Java is
often regarded as the most simple programming language to learn, and official
documentation is available from Oracle.
On the other side, despite being a relatively new language, We feel Kotlin's official documentation is sufficient to understand how to use it, therefore this conflict is also a tie.
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| Documentation |
Popularity
According to
Google Trends, Java is more popular among developers than Kotlin. Despite some
ups and downs, Java's popularity continues to surpass that of Kotlin by a
significant margin.
One of the primary reasons for this is Java's extended lifespan. Another important factor is Java's need for lower cognitive investments in learning.
As a result, Java has won the popularity competition.
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| Java vs Kotlin: Popularity |
Community
While Kotlin is developed in Russia, a large number of Russian coders have adopted it, becoming the basis of the Kotlin community. Nevertheless, the Kotlin community is roughly 20 times lesser than the Java community.
India has a significant presence in the Java development community. Because Java is easy to learn and has a huge community of junior developers in India, many people start with it. This trend is not limited to India, with junior developers all across the world beginning their careers using Java. Because the Java community is larger than the Kotlin community, Java wins this contest.
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| Community |
Talent pool
According to the most recent StackOverflow Dev Survey, Kotlin is one of the most commonly used ones, with around 8% of professional developers using this language. Despite having a high rating in Google Trends, Java did not make the list.
However, while Java is on the list among the most loved technologies, with around 44.1 percent of developers expressing "desire in continuing to develop with it," Kotlin takes the lead with 62.9 percent enjoying the language.
In addition, Kotlin pays higher to developers, with a payout of $55K per year compared to $50K for Java.
As a result, Kotlin emerges in the battle of the talent pool.
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| Talent Pool |
Learning curve
While both Java and Kotlin offer extensive documentation, Java has a flatter learning curve. To complete a task, Java requires more code than Kotlin, but the programming language has always been in the development industry for a prolonged period of time and has a larger community, so a newcomer can obtain essential documentation and assist more quickly.
Kotlin, on the other hand, demands higher cognitive learning investments than Java. It does, however, require less code in general, making it suitable for experienced developers or visual learners.
The learning curve clash between Kotlin and Java goes to Java.
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| Learning Curve |
Closing notes
It's difficult to
pick a side in the Kotlin vs. Java discussion. Despite their similarities, the
languages are best suited for distinct purposes.
Java, on the one hand, is a universal language. Though the language was designed primarily for the development of Android applications, it has evolved into an excellent alternative for big data, e-commerce, and corporate systems. This technology is used by companies such as Netflix, AppleTV, Hybris, and ATG.
Kotlin, on the other hand, is a superior alternative for creating modern-day Android apps. Kotlin, which provides as a foundation for creating microservices, is used in almost every app in the Google Play store. Kotlin is used by companies like as Pinterest, Trello, Coursera, and Evernote. Kotlin is rapidly establishing itself as a better programming language for mobile app development, providing developers with a lot of opportunities to experiment with modern programming. Overall, Kotlin is raising the bar for what a programming language should be capable of.
Ultimately, the developer decides the language to use. Java is a good place to start if you're new to programming. Kotlin is an excellent choice if you are a cognitive thinker who wants to write less code.
Reference- https://developer.android.com/kotlin/first#why
- https://developer.android.com/kotlin/first
- https://eng.uber.com/measuring-kotlin-build-performance/
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/index.html
- https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#top-paying-technologies
- https://kotlinlang.org/docs/home.html
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