What is Kotlin? I am sure most of us are android users right. But have you wondered about the official programming language of Android? Well, I am talking about Kotlin.
Many companies like Google, Pinterest, Facebook, Uber, and other technology-driven companies are using Kotlin for their daily needs. And in this article, we will check out the introduction to Kotlin and go about seeing what does it offer to us as a developer?
And here is the agenda for today. We are going to discuss about Kotlin, such as what is Kotlin? The History of Kotlin, all the features of Kotlin, and at the last of this article we check out all of the IDE in which you can write the code of the Kotlin programming language.
What is Kotlin?
Well, guys what is Kotlin? Well to give you a quick definition of kotlin, Kotlin is a general-purpose, open-source, statically typed programming language for use with the Java virtual machine (JVM) and android.
So this basically helps to combine object-oriented models and functional programming models. This is the biggest advantage that Kotlin gives us as a programming language.
The first key takes away is that this is open-source. The second key takes away is that it’s a general-purpose language that allows both object-oriented and functional programming features and it gives to the user as well the third point is it is statically typed.
So coming to the next point is pretty much you might be a wondered where Kotlin is used? Well to give you the general example of where Kotlin can fatten into the programming world? Kotlin can be fitted perfectly in the server-side programming domain as well.
It helps very much in the client-side programming and most of all it is majorly used in android development.
And you might come to think about this are very wide field but guys Kotlin is used for mobiles, server sides applications, client sides application development basically in collaboration with the javascript and then you can also go about using a lot of data science techniques along site Kotlin and this is just one of the few possibilities that I am naming here for you guys.
Now let’s take the next point that is who uses Kotlin?
Who uses Kotlin?
No doubt Kotlin is an amazing programming language and a statistic flow is the same as well. Kotlin is one of the famous languages which is used by many big technology companies.
Well, tech people at google, Uber, Pinterest, Evernote, urbanclapTrello and so many more go about using Kotlin for their daily requirements.
So how did Kotlin combine? If you actually take a look at the history of Kotlin it is actually very interesting because giving you a fact here Kotlin is actually constructed as the alternative to java.
History of Kotlin
If you guys did not know for the last decade or so java was the biggest programming language, the most popular programming language to have ever existed. And python came along the way and covered the industry of IT. But java was one of the big players.
Kotlin had to be amazing, had to be better than java to be considered as the alternate to Java. So in the same trend Java then Kotlin is amazing guys.
Kotlin originated ba a very famous company called Jet Brains it was launched in the year 2011 and it has ever been open-source since 2011.
So Jet Brains is that company that is basically behind the Intellij IDEA and this particular tool or application was an extremely popular java IDE. Way back from 2010 and it is actually very popular at this stage as well.
As the people at google announced that they would make Kotlin an official language for android just a couple of years ago guys. So pretty much in the world of android Kotlin is the biggest name as a programming language and again it can be used along with java. Which is a replacement for java and so much more.
So what are the features of Kotlin?
Features of Kotlin
There are many features of Kotlin but let me try to break it out in simple terms so let I can help you to grasp the concepts and keep them in your memory.
- Interoperability with java
- Extremely versatile
- Concise Language
The biggest feature which makes developers easier with very much is the interoperability with java. So you can basically run your java code on Kotlin and Kotlin code on java. And it is interoperable on multiple levels.
And it is extremely versatile because it gives you so many features, it gives you so much access with respect to the code and the concepts behind that. And the possibilities are endless of what you can come up with by making use of Kotlin.
And it is a very concise language as well. It is actually almost similar to java as I have mentioned and it is a high-level programming language so you can go about understanding what the code is doing even without having a good knowledge of the code is.
Ease of use
- Kotlin is a beginner-friendly programming language.
- It is similar to java in many aspects.
- High-level syntax helps learners understand easily.
Efficiency
- 20% less length than java. ( if you write 100 lines of code in java to perform some task then Kotlin can do it in just 70-80 lines of code)
- Easy to learn.
- The syntax is intuitive and lean.
Interoperability
- Java code in Kotlin and vice versa too.
- Keeps the developer’s productivity high.
- No need to switch codes.
Extension
- To add extra features to existing components.
- Extend a class to avoid creating a new one.
- Can work with code without an access tool.
Now, what are the ides (integrated development environment) for Kotlin in which you can write your Kotlin code?
Ides for Kotlin
Here I mentioned some ides that people use to write Kotlin code.
- Intellij IDEA
- Android studio
- VIM
- Subline text
My question for you is what is your favorite IDE in which you want to work with Kotlin or any other programming language? Tell us about your choice.
So these are the ides for Kotlin.
Conclusion:
Here we have learned about what is Kotlin and discussed all the features of Kotlin as well as the History of Kotlin. Some ides for Kotlin that you can use to work with the Kotlin programming language.
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