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What Kotlin Means for your Android App

At Google I/O 2017, Google announced official support of Kotlin as a language for Android development. This first-party support means that developers can now write Android apps using Kotlin with first-party tools and language support from Google, and developers themselves are very excited. 

But you may be wondering what it means for your Android apps going forward.

Improving Pain Points

Kotlin is a modern language that was created to improve some of the pain points that developers have encountered over the many years of using Java and other similar languages. It was first released in July 2011 and has been improved upon many times since as it gathers steam in the Android community. 

And while it is a relatively new language, the good news is that Kotlin is interoperable with Java, meaning that developers can continue to use the Java Libraries they already know how to use. Legacy code written in Java can easily be migrated to Kotlin, making it easier to gradually transition current apps to the new language.

Making lives easier

Your developers are excited about Kotlin because it makes their lives easier. Something that used to require hundreds of lines of code may now require just a few lines in Kotlin. It essentially allows developers to do all the same things that they are currently doing in Java, but with less code. And less code means fewer bugs and less time required to manage and update the app in the long run. 

Kotlin also reduces bugs in code because it enforces constraints that let developers sidestep errors often seen in older languages, providing them with the ability to discover issues within the code as it is written. This empowers developers to find and fix issues before they affect users, ultimately leading to a better user experience, higher Play Store reviews and more downloads.

 

Kotlin and Android logos overlaid on a picture of a person working on a laptop
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