Что лучше kotlin или java

Kotlin vs Java for Mobile and Web Development

When starting a new project, choosing a programming language is one of the most critical things to consider. Your choice plays a vital role in your application’s efficiency, scalability, maintenance, and overall performance. Two languages that stand out in web and mobile development are Kotlin and Java. They’re widely used, versatile, robust, object-oriented languages that can serve as a solid foundation for your development needs. This article highlights the similarities and differences between Kotlin and Java, their benefits and limitations, and some use cases to help you decide which language to choose for your projects.

What Is Java?

Java is a high-level, object-oriented programming language (OOP). In other words, everything in Java is organized by classes and objects. It’s also platform-independent, meaning you can write your code once and run it on any platform with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Its ability to handle large-scale workloads has made Java a reliable choice for web and application development. Many organizations, including Google, Uber, and Airbnb, use Java in their tech stacks. Java boasts a prominent and engaging developer community that provides open-source projects and learning resources. By working with Java, you can access a broad selection of libraries, frameworks, and other tools the community maintains.

What Is Kotlin?

Kotlin is an open-source, modern, statically typed programming language initially designed to be compatible with a JVM. However, Kotlin has expanded its capabilities to support other environments, such as web browsers. It also embraces both functional and OOP concepts. Kotlin addresses Java’s limitations, making it a more concise, expressive, and safe language. Kotlin is also interoperable with Java so you can use it with existing Java code and libraries. In 2017, Google announced Kotlin as the official language for Android development, leading to the widespread adoption of Kotlin among Android developers. A critical feature Kotlin provides is Kotlin/JS, which allows you to compile Kotlin code into JavaScript. This feature enables you to combine the unique features of Kotlin with popular JavaScript libraries for web development.

Kotlin and Java Compared

Now that you have a high-level overview of the two languages, this section looks at how Kotlin and Java differ from each other and their similarities.

Syntax and Language

Java is verbose. Since it doesn’t support type inference, you must indicate the data and return types of variables and methods. Additionally, Java code often resides in classes, leading to more boilerplate code. The snippet below shows the lines of code needed to create a simple “Hello, world” program in Java:

public class HelloWorld < public static void main(String[] args) < System.out.println("Hello world"); >>

Kotlin, on the other hand, is more concise. It eliminates much of the boilerplate present in Java by introducing features such as type inference, smart casts, data classes, and null safety. The following snippet is the equivalent of the “Hello, world” program in Kotlin and demonstrates its concision compared to Java:

fun main()

In Kotlin, variables are non-nullable by default unless you explicitly mark them as nullable using the ? operator. By contrast, if you can assign null to any variable in Java, it makes it prone to null pointer exceptions. Kotlin and Java handle concurrency differently. While Java provides Thread and Executor for concurrent tasks, Kotlin uses coroutines and suspending functions, allowing you to perform asynchronous tasks sequentially. It’s also worth noting that, unlike Java, semicolons are optional in Kotlin. Kotlin also provides other distinctive features, such as sealed classes, singletons, inline functions, and functional programming.

Performance and Efficiency

Kotlin generally compiles into the same JVM bytecode as Java, so the difference in performance between both languages in production applications is usually negligible. However, Kotlin slightly outperforms Java in some areas due to its more concise syntax and modern features, such as inline functions.

Interoperability and Compatibility

As Java has a mature ecosystem of libraries and frameworks, it supports different databases, including Oracle, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It also provides several frameworks for web development, like Spring, Jakarta Server Pages, formerly JavaServer Pages (JSP), and Jakarta Faces, formerly Jakarta Server Faces and JavaServer Faces (JSF). Kotlin, on the other hand, is entirely interoperable with Java allowing you to call Java code from Kotlin and vice-versa. Consequently, you can integrate the abundant collection of Java libraries in your Kotlin projects. Similarly, with Kotlin/JS, you can leverage various JavaScript frameworks and libraries, such as React.js and Vue.js for web development.

Use Cases for Kotlin and Java

You can use Kotlin and Java for a wide range of web and app development projects, as outlined in the following sections.

Java Use Cases

• Legacy codebases — Developers often use Java to maintain legacy codebases, particularly enterprise and legacy Android applications.
• Projects dependent on Java frameworks — Java has extensive libraries and frameworks that cut across different domains. You can integrate existing Java libraries to simplify development tasks.
• Web development — Java offers several frameworks well-suited for web development, including JSF, JSP, and Spring.
• Teams with extensive Java experience — Experienced teams can leverage their knowledge of Java to deliver high-quality applications quickly.

Kotlin Use Cases

The following use cases can benefit from using Kotlin:

• New Android projects — Since Kotlin is the official recommended language for Android development, newer Android libraries like Jetpack Compose are only available there. So, consider using Kotlin for your new Android projects.
• Web development: With Kotlin/JS, you can use Kotlin for your frontend web development projects and frameworks like Ktor and Spring for your backend development needs.
• Concise and readable code — Kotlin is best suited for projects prioritizing clean, concise, and readable code due to its expressive syntax.
• Use of modern language features — When developer productivity is a priority, Kotlin’s coding features, such as sound null safety, type inference, and data classes, make it your best choice.

Kotlin and Java in the Android and Web Ecosystem

Google’s first-class support of Kotlin for Android development has driven its widespread adoption. However, most of the Android SDK supports libraries and legacy applications that are still in Java so that you can use both languages in the same codebase for Android development.

More developers and organizations are embracing Kotlin with Ktor and Kotlin/JS for web development. Nonetheless, Java still has the upper hand in this area thanks to its extensive, stable, and mature ecosystem of libraries and frameworks tailored for web development.

How To Pick the Right Language: Kotlin or Java

Although Kotlin and Java share several similarities, they address different problems and have different strengths.

Choosing the most appropriate language is dependent on various factors, including:

• Project requirements — Evaluating your project’s needs helps you determine which language aligns the best with your project’s goals. For example, consider the target platform of your application. Java may be better suited for enterprise server applications, whereas Kotlin might be the better choice for applications aimed at the Android OS.
• Team skill set — Your team’s expertise is essential to consider. If your team is already experienced with Java, using Java might be a more prudent option as they can leverage this knowledge instead of learning a new language and syntax.
• Language features — Assessing each language’s features helps you understand which language aligns better with your development needs. For instance, Kotlin supports null safety, which minimizes the risk of runtime errors, unlike Java, which is prone to null-related exceptions.
• Language establishment and stability — Considering the level of establishment and stability of each language is vital, as these factors can significantly impact the success and longevity of your project. Java, with its decades-long history and proven reliability, is a solid choice for projects that demand a dependable platform. Kotlin, while innovative and agile, may introduce more frequent changes, making Java the preferred option for projects requiring long-term stability and reliable performance.

Summary

Both Kotlin and Java are good choices for web and application development. Java has excellent community support and many community-maintained libraries. However, Java is verbose and doesn’t support modern language features like null safety. Comparatively, Kotlin is much more concise, interoperable with Java, and has a steadily growing community.

Also, while Java has primitive types, which you must explicitly define for variables and methods, Kotlin treats them as objects and can infer data types. Kotlin also provides different syntactic sugar, such as data classes, extension functions, smart casts, and operator overloading, making code expressive and maintainable.

Ultimately, choosing which language to use depends on your project requirements, your team’s experience, and the language with the features that align best with your project’s goals. You can experiment with both languages to determine which one suits your needs.

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Java vs. Kotlin: The Key Differences Explained

Java vs. Kotlin: Which language is better for Android development? Our comparison guide covers key differences to help you choose the right language for your project.

By BairesDev Editorial Team

BairesDev is the leading nearshore technology solutions company with 4,000+ professionals in 50+ countries representing the top 1% of tech talent.

Mobile apps have become indispensable for most businesses. With these apps, customers can more easily purchase your products, interact with your company, get help, and even spread the word about your products and/or services. And given that currently 60.67% of all web traffic is coming from mobile devices, you can no longer deny the staying power of phones-as-computers. That number will only continue to rise, which means every business is going to have to add a mobile app to stay competitive in an already overly competitive world. For that, it’s purely a Java vs. Kotlin proposition.

As far as mobile operating systems, if you look at the global numbers, Android is the clear winner, with a 72.26% market share. That means if your company plans on doing global business, Android had better be a part of your strategy.

For that, you’ll need either Java or Kotlin. But which should you choose? Both languages are perfectly capable for the Android platform, but only one has Google’s seal of approval as the “official language” for apps.

Let’s take a look at both of these languages so you can see the key differences.

What Is Java?

Java has been around for nearly 30 years. The language was first created by James Gosling in May 1995 for Sun Microsystems and has become one of the most used languages on the planet. With a current TIOBE index of 3, Java is showing no signs of going away.

Java was created to be a small, reliable, portable, distributed, real-time operating platform, but has evolved into something much greater than was originally planned. There are two reasons for that. The first is web applications. The second (and most important) is that Java became Google’s go-to programming language for the Android operating system. And although the majority of Android applications aren’t written in Java, the OS itself is.

But Java isn’t limited to mobile apps. You’ll find Java used for games, cloud computing, big data, AI, and even IoT. Java has developed such a large following because A) it can do so much and B) there are a great many available resources for the languages. Java has a tremendously active community, a ton of development tools, and is completely platform-independent.

Java was originally created to be a “write once, run anywhere” language, which allowed developers to use a single language to create applications that could run within a JVM runtime environment that could be deployed to any platform. Java also depended heavily on sandboxing, which meant rich client applications could be deployed more easily and securely in an enterprise environment.

Java has become so widely used, you shouldn’t have any problem locating a Java development service to help create the perfect portable app for your needs.

Advantages Java

Java has a number of advantages that help make it such a popular language among programmers and businesses, including the following:

• It’s easy to learn – Java was originally designed to be easy to learn and use.
• It’s object-oriented – Java is an object-oriented language, so it’s easy to create modular programs and code that can be reused.
• It’s platform-independent – This means it will run on any operating system.
• It’s very stable – Java, and the applications written with it, are very stable.
• It’s secure – Java avoids certain security issues by using explicit pointers to reduce threats.
• It provides automatic garbage collection – Java ensures that when an object is no longer used by a program, it will be automatically collected and removed.
• It’s multi-threading – Java can run more than one thread at a time to maximize CPU utilization.
• It’s distributed – Java is a distributed language, which means it provides a mechanism for sharing data and programs with multiple computers to increase application performance.
• It enjoys a massive community – With Java, there’s never any shortage of help to be found.

Disadvantages of Java

• It’s not a fast language – Java consumes a good deal of memory and is considerably slower than similar languages.
• Its GUIs are outdated – Java GUIs look like they were built in the late ’90s or early 2000s, so it’s not very modern looking.
• It doesn’t offer data backup – Java provides no facility for data backup.
• It’s not easy to read – Java code is not nearly as succinct as similar languages.

What Companies Use Java?

There are tens of thousands of major companies using Java today, including the following:

• Uber
• Airbnb
• Google
• Pinterest
• Netflix
• Instagram
• Spotify
• Amazon

What Tools Integrate With Java?

Because Java has been around for so long, there are a large number of tools that seamlessly integrate or work with the language, including the following:

• Jenkins – for CI/CD
• Site24x7 – for Java application monitoring
• ManageEngine – proactively monitors Java applications and infrastructure performance
• JUnit – a Java testing tool
• NetBeans – one of the most popular IDEs on the market
• Apache Maven – software project management tool
• Mockito – a Java mocking framework that helps developers write clean code

What Is Kotlin?

Although Google uses Java as the primary programming language for the Android operating system, on May 7, 2019, Google dubbed Kotlin the official language for Android applications. That doesn’t mean those two languages are completely separate. In fact, there are still Android applications written in Java, but the majority of apps for Google’s mobile platform are written in Kotlin.

Kotlin was originally created by Dmitry Jemerov (the lead developer at JetBrains) in July 2011, after he realized that most languages didn’t offer the features he required. The Scala language was considered, but Jemerov found it to be far too slow at compiling. Because of this, he set out to create a language that offered the features of Scala with a much faster compile time. Thus, Kotlin was created.

A year after its creation (in February 2012), JetBrains released Kotlin under the Apache 2 open-source license. The name was inspired by the island of Kotlin (a nod to Java being named after the island of the same name).

With a TIOBE index of 26, Kotlin is not nearly as popular as Java. Even so, thanks to the popularity of Android, you won’t have any problem finding a Kotlin development company anywhere in the world.

Advantages of Kotlin

Kotlin has plenty of advantages, most of which point to it being quite easy to learn and employ. Those advantages include the following:

• It’s concise – Kotlin makes it possible to write less code. The benefit of writing fewer lines of code means your developers will introduce fewer bugs.
• Written by developers for developers – Kotlin was created by those in the industry, so by design, it solves many challenges developers face.
• Easy to learn – Kotlin is easier to learn than many other general-purpose languages. And because Kotlin is fully compatible with Java, you can make it work with existing code.
• Zero runtime overhead – The Kotlin standard library is lean and fast because it serves as an extension of the Java standard library.
• Multi-platform development – Kotlin can be used for Android app development and even integrates with JavaScript, so you can migrate your front-end apps to Kotlin with little effort.
• No null reference – Kotlin’s type system practically eliminates the “billion-dollar mistake” that is null references.

Disadvantages of Kotlin

Kotlin does have its disadvantages, such as:

• It has fewer tools – Because it’s a less mature language than Java, Kotlin doesn’t enjoy nearly the number of tools and integrations.
• It’s slower to compile – Although Kotlin compiles faster than Scala, it’s still slower than Java.
• Smaller community – Where Java has a massive community, Kotlin is far behind in that area, meaning it might be harder to find support.

What Companies Use Kotlin?

Because Kotlin is used for Android app development, you can be certain there are a large number of companies that make use of the language, including the following:

• Udemy
• Slack
• Robinhood
• CRED
• Delivery Hero
• Tech Stack
• Tinder
• HENNGE K.K.
• Pinterest
• Postmates
• Uber
• Evernote
• Coursera

What Tools Integrate With Kotlin?

You won’t find nearly the number of tools that integrate with Kotlin as with Java. However, there are some important tools to consider, such as the following:

Key Differences Between Java & Kotlin

• Platform independence with “Write Once, Run Anywhere” (WORA)
• Rich ecosystem and libraries
• Strong community support.

• Interoperability with Java
• Concise and expressive syntax
• Enhanced safety features with null safety and type inference.

• Verbosity and boilerplate code
• Memory consumption can be higher compared to some other languages
• Steeper learning curve for beginners.

• Kotlin’s rapid evolution may lead to some breaking changes
• Smaller ecosystem compared to Java.

There are a few important differences between Java and Kotlin, including the following:

• Primary usage: While Java is used as the primary programming language for the Android operating system, Kotlin was dubbed the official language of Android applications.
• Object-oriented: Kotlin combines features from both object-oriented and functional programming, whereas Java is limited to only the object-oriented methodology.
• Extensions: Kotlin allows users to create and use extension functions, whereas Java does not.
• Conversions: Java supports implicit conversions, whereas Kotlin does not.

What Does the Future Look Like?

There is no doubt that both Java and Kotlin have bright futures ahead. Given that Java is the official programming language for the Android operating system and Kotlin has been declared the official language for Android apps, you can be certain neither is going anywhere. On top of that, Java has a bright future with web apps and A.I., so its future is all but guaranteed.

The only thing that might change this is if Google finally migrates from Android to Fuschia, which doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon.

Java vs Kotlin: Who Wins?

If you’re looking for a language that can be used to create apps for any platform, Java is the clear winner. If, however, you’re looking to create apps for the Android operating system, Kotlin is the way to go.

When to Use Java

Java should be considered when you want to create numerous types of applications that will run on any platform that includes the Java Virtual Machine. With Java, you can create games, mobile apps, web apps, AI apps, apps that work with big data, and apps that run on IoT devices.

When to Use Kotlin

Kotlin is your best choice for writing concise Android apps with less code and fewer bugs.

If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out one of our other Java articles:

• Java Concurrency: Master the Art of Multithreading
• Java Garbage Collection
• Java Integration Testing Explained With Examples
• 10 Best Java NLP Libraries & Tools
• The 10 Most Popular Java Frameworks

Key Questions

Which is the best object-oriented programming language?

Since Java is strictly an object-oriented language, it gets a leg up over Kotlin. However, if you want a more flexible language, Kotlin is the way to go.

Is Kotlin still worth learning?

Since Android’s global dominance is showing no signs of slowing down, Kotlin will be a viable language for a very long time.

Should I learn Java or Kotlin?

Both languages are good choices, but if your company is looking to build Android apps, Kotlin is the way to go. If you want to add web apps, games, AI, big data, and IoT apps into the mix, Java is a great choice.

Which is better: Kotlin or Java?

That depends on your use case. For straight-up Android app development, Kotlin is superior because it’s more concise and is Google’s official language for the mobile operating system.

Is Kotlin killing Java?

No. Because Java is the language used to build Android and is also used for web apps and many other applications, Java is going nowhere.

By BairesDev Editorial Team

Founded in 2009, BairesDev is the leading nearshore technology solutions company, with 4,000+ professionals in more than 50 countries, representing the top 1% of tech talent. The company’s goal is to create lasting value throughout the entire digital transformation journey.