What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and can, therefore, be used anywhere Java is used today (which is virtually anywhere). This includes server, client, web, and Android development. It’s developed by Jet Brains who are currently working to bring Kotlin to embedded systems and iOS as well, potentially making it a one-stop language for all application areas.

What makes Kotlin so popular among developers is its clean language design and powerful features. Its goal is explicitly not to introduce new concepts, but to bring together programming language features that have proved to be beneficial for large-scale projects.

History:

• Jet Brains unveiled Project Kotlin, a new language for the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) in July 2011. It had been under development for a year.
• In February 2012, Jet Brains open-sourced the project under the Apache 2 license.
• Kotlin is named after the Kotlin Island, near St. Petersburg, Russia.
• First, officially stable version Kotlin v1.0 was released on February 15, 2016.
• At Google I/O 2017, Google announced it as the preferred language for Android.

Advantage of Kotlin over Java?

Kotlin can be used anywhere in place of java (very soon in more place can be used). It is currently used for android app development as per the Google official announcement.

Below are few points about the advantage of Kotlin over Java.

• Easier to Maintain:  Kotlin support multiple Ide like Eclipse, Atom, Sublime Text, Vim and Android Studio too. Kotlin is developed by Jet Brains, so it follows naturally that the IntelliJ IDEA IDE has the best support for the language. You can use any tool in which you are comfortable with for maintaining your codebase at scale.
• If your system has a 2gb ram and normal processor, then you use Sublime Text with Kotlin build.
• If your system has 4gb ram and normal processor, then you can use Atom.
• If your system has 6gb ram and a good processor the use IntelliJ IDEA because of its take so much memory
• Kotlin Has Null as Type System: Null Pointer Exception is a common exception for developing android application in java, but Kotlin comes to solve this problem by placing null right in its type system.
• Age Factor: The first version of Java was released over 20 years ago. This inevitably adds legacy baggage to the language because each newer version must be compatible with the previous. As a modern language, Kotlin has the natural advantage of being able to leverage all the language design expertise gained in the past 20 years and focus on state-of-the-art features that have proven to work well.
• Safe Coding: Kotlin code safer than Java because it’s prevent programming mistake by its design, so there is fewer system failure and application crushes. Kotlin nudges developers to think about potential problems with their code explicitly, hence helping them write more robust code.
• Better Support for Functional Programming: Functional programming is a development paradigm that allows developers to solve many tasks more easily and consistently. Java brings this feature in java 8 but Kotlin has better support for functional programming. The performance also can be improving by inlining which is currently not in java.
• Reduce Errors and Bugs in the Code: The Kotlin compiler aims to fail-fast whenever possible. This greatly facilitates searching for bugs and can even prevent them in the first place. The Kotlin compiler performs many checks, avoiding runtime errors and reducing the cost and effort of error fixes.
• Developers will be more satisfied and excited about their work: According to RebelLabs’ survey of over 2000 Java developers, Kotlin is the technology they’re most excited about using, and the one they’re most satisfied with as well (9.1 of 10). JAXenter even proposed Kotlin as a potential candidate for the programming language of the year 2017 due to the satisfaction stats, its ascent in the popular TIOBE index, Google’s official support, and its own survey which confirmed that Kotlin catches the interest of a surprising portion of JAXenter’s readers (C was ultimately awarded the title). However, due to the increasing preference for Kotlin by developers and its ease of use, adopting Kotlin can help keep your engineers more satisfied and engaged on the job.
• Kotlin is more Concise: Kotlin is way more concise than Java in many cases, solving the same problems with fewer lines of code. This improves code maintainability and readability, meaning engineers can write, read, and change code more effectively and efficiently. Features such as type inference, smart casts, data classes, and properties help achieve conciseness.

Conclusion:

Kotlin is better than java and easy to use Kotlin code from java and vice versa. But this is very difficult to migrate a large project from java to Kotlin, so better option is only converting few codes from java to Kotlin and write new test code in Kotlin as both use JVM so we can write code in both languages in a single project.