Java vs Kotlin which one is better to choose?

If you are a mobile app developer, Java is probably your language for building Android apps. But new languages ​​are popping up everywhere that might challenge Java’s dominance in the Android world.

One of them is Kotlin, a relatively new programming language, already announced by Google as a “first-class” language supported on Android.

Although it is continually meaning evolved and enhanced, Kotlin is now viewing a mature ecosystem and its demand is growing quickly, especially on the mobile development scene. 

Java to Kotlin story

Kotlin v1.0 was published only on 15, February 2016, the history of this programming language defines back to 2011. JetBrains founded Kotlin for their practical needs. 

The company had 70% of its outputs build on Java but began to understand its shortcomings – mainly unnecessary wordiness. 

They wanted a programming language that would be Java-compatible since rewriting everything into a new programming language appeared as a no-go option. Everybody started experimenting with Scala but were not fulfilled. That is when the concept of a new programming language, Kotlin, was born.

Difference Between Java vs Kotlin

Null Safety

As mentioned earlier, Kotlin avoids NullPointerException. Whenever NullPointerException can be thrown, The Kotlin fails at compile-time.

Data Classes 

Kotlin consists of boilerplate data classes, hashcodes, tostring, getters/setters and much more such as boilerplates lead to autogeneration.

Consider the following example of Java vs Kotlin

/* Java programming */

class Book {

private String title;

private Author author;

public String getTitle() {

return title;

 }

 public void setTitle(String title) {

 this.title = title;

 }

 public Author getAuthor() {

 return author;

 }

 public void setAuthor(Author author) {

 this.author = author;

 }

}

But the above one class in Kotlin may be briefly defined in a row

/* kotlin programming */

data class Book(var title: String,

var author: Author)

It will also allow us to easily make copies of data classes with the help of copy()

val book = Book(“Kotlin”, “JetBrains”)

val copy = book.copy()

Extension Functions 

Kotlin allows us to expand the functionality of existing classes without having inherited from them. That is to say, Kotlin provides the ability to extend a class with new functionality without inheriting from the class. 

This is done by expansion works. To declare an extension function, we have to prefix its name with a receiver type, that is. The type is being increased.

The following adds a swap function to MutableList<List> –

fun MutableList < Int > .swap(index1: Int, index2: Int) {

 val tmp = this[index1]

 this[index1] = this[index2]

 this[index2] = tmp

}

The ‘this’ keyword inside the extension function belongs to the receiver object, which is passed before the dot.

Now we can call such a function on any MutableList<Int> –

val abc = mutableListOf(1, 2, 3)

abc.swap(0, 2)

Smart Casts 

When it comes to casts, the Kotlin compiler is intelligent. In many cases, one does not need to use the cast operators of clear in Kotlin, but for irreversible values in Kotlin and inserts casts become required automatically

fun demo(x: Any) {

 if (x is String) {

 print(x.length) // x is automatically cast to string

 }

}

Type Inference 

In Kotlin, a great thing is that you don’t need to explicitly specify the type of each variable (clearly and in a detailed manner). But if you want to explicitly define the data type, you can do the same.

Consider the following example of Java vs Kotlin

/* not explicitly defined */

fun main(args: Array < String > ) {

 val text = 10

 println(text)

}

/* explicitly defined */

fun main(args: Array < String > ) {

 val text: Int = 10

 println(text)

}

Functional Programming 

The main important thing is that Kotlin is a functional programming language. Originally Kotlin includes several useful methods, including high-order tasks, long-rate expressions, operator overloading, lazy valuations, operator overloading and much more.

Functional programming makes Kotlin much more useful when it comes to collections–

fun main(args: Array < String > ) {

 val numbers = arrayListOf(15, -5, 11, -39)

 val nonNegativeNumbers = numbers.filter {

 it >= 0

 }

 println(nonNegativeNumbers)

}

Output – 15, 11

High – Command tasks are functions that act as a parameter and also return a function.

Consider the following code of Java vs Kotlin

fun alphaNum (func: () -> unit){}

In the code above, The name of the parameter “func” is the name of the parameter and the name of the parameter is “() -> Unit the function type. In this case, we are saying that func will be a function that does not achieve any parameters as well as does not return any value.

Lambda expression or an anonymous function is a “Literal function, that is, a function that is not declared, but passed as an expression.

val sum: (Int, Int) – > Int = {

 x,

 y – > x + y

}

In the above example, we declare only the variable ‘total’ that takes two integers and adds them together and returns as an integer.

Then we use ‘sum(2,2)’ to call it.

An anonymous function is a function that allows us to specify the return type and the function name is omitted in it.

Consider the following example of Java vs Kotlin

Either this way –

fun(x: Int, y: Int): Int = x + y

or This Way

fun(x: Int, y: int): Int {

 return a + b

}

Conclusion

Despite all the benefits of Kotlin, if you’re asking questions, “Which better, Java vs Kotlin? The answer is not easy.

Kotlin has come a long way, even though it is still in the early stages of version 1.2. The Kotlin code is secure and more concise than Java code.

Kotlin is not only useful for new applications, but its files can come co-existence with Java files – that means there’s scope for existing applications too.

Of course, Java has been around for years, and there is a wealth of Java developers in the IT industry, including application development companies – but not in Kotlin’s case. The market is still struggling to cope with the demand for language and is not able to fully meet the supply portion.

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