Google Makes Kotlin an Official Programming Language For Writing Android Apps

In Google I/O in may 2017, Google announced that it will officially support Kotlin as a first class language for Android development. It is a new programming language developed by JetBrains. JetBrains have also developed the JetBrains IDE on which Android Studio, Google's official IDE for Android development, is based on. Actually in July 2011 JetBrains announced project Kotlin, a new language for the JVM. JetBrains promoter Dmitry Jemerove said that most languages did not have the features they were looking for. One of the goals is to compile as quickly as Java. In feb 2012, JetBrains open sourced the project.

It is also like Java which is right now the default language for Android development and runs on JVM (Java Virtual Machine), and it is already possible to use Kotlin and many other JVM languages for Android app development. Although Android doesn't use the JVM exactly but its Java roots are very strong and kotlin's interoperability with Java have made it a popular choice for developers. As It is a new language hence Google official support will be a huge boost and make working with Kotlin on Android a lot more natural and easier. Now Kotlin tools will be included with Android Studio by default and jetBrains and Google are committed to support the new language going forward.

Accepting Kotlin by Google is a great fantastic news for Android developers and also for the rest of the developer community. This has opened lot more opportunities for all. For Android developers, Kotlin support is a chance to use a modern and more robust language which can solve common issues like runtime exceptions and source code verbosity. It is easy to learn and get started with and can be slowly introduced into existing projects which means that your investment in existing skills and technology will be preserved and will be taken care off.

KotlinLanguage has many similarities to Java in Structure like its object oriented and statically types and designed for similar problems which Java solves but Korlin adds many nice features like a much cleaner syntax, ideas from functional programming and other improvements over Java. Unlike Swift programming language which is owned by Apple, Google won't own Kotlin. JetBrains will continue to develop and support Kotlin but the company is partnering with Google to set up a non profit Kotlin foundation to do more improvements in the language. Kotlin is also designed to run as native code on iOS and Macs and it also compiles to JavaScript for web development.

As now Google is supporting the Kotlin language for Android app development hence it certainly looks like Kotlin will be used more and more for Android development in future. Kotlin is designed keeping Java in mind but it is better and superior than Java hence more Android app developers will start using it soon. If you are also into Android development then you should also give a serious look to accept Kotlin and start using it for mobile apps development for Android platform.