Kotlin vs Java: Why is kotlin better than Java?

If you’re looking to compare Kotlin vs Java or move away from Java and explore a new programming language, Kotlin might be worth considering – especially if you’re looking for a more concise and powerful language than Java.

As we think about Kotlin vs Java comparison, Kotlin is a statically typed language that runs on the Java platform. You can compile your Kotlin code into Java code and run it in Android or JVM-based applications. Here are the main reasons why we think you should make the switch!

What is Kotlin?

Programming languages like Kotlin are statically typed, compiled languages designed by JetBrains. Kotlin is a general-purpose programming language that may be used to create Android and Java apps, among other things. You can use it to build mobile apps or JVM apps, It can be run on both server-side applications and client-server applications. Kotlin can be used to create enterprise applications such as web applications, embedded software, mobile applications, and desktop software.

It was designed to be a modern alternative to Java. Kotlin offers many features that are not available in Java. Kotlin is designed to be a superset of Java. This means that any legitimate Java code may be written in Kotlin as well. In addition, Kotlin includes many features that are not found in Java when comparing Kotlin vs Java. These include features such as lambda expressions, extension functions, function builders, type inference, and multiplatform support.

Top features of Kotlin

It is a multiplatform language — That runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux and also compiles Java bytecodes to run on JVMs. This means you can use the same code on both Android and iOS. It can also run on the server side via a standalone interpreter.
Kotlin is modern and evolving fast. It is inspired by Scala, but is very concise and has a much smaller syntax. Compared to Scala, it also has more built-in libraries/functionality.
Safe memory management through immutability allows for preventing bugs due to memory corruption. It also eliminates potential security problems in your app, as there are fewer places to write insecure code.
Facilitates the creation of user interfaces using views: The layout system is very powerful and lets you easily build UIs based on data binding, so there’s less boilerplate code and less logic that you have to write yourself. The view classes themselves can be completely functional, so there is no need to explicitly call lifecycle methods like on Create or on Resume. You can create an immutable UI state and let the framework automatically manage the lifecycle of the components for you.

Benefits of Kotlin

Kotlin’s programming is concise; thanks to concise syntax keywords and small control structures, code in Kotlin is typically more expressive than in similar languages such as Java and JavaScript.
The build process for Kotlin applications is quite fast compared to other languages such as Java and C++.
Kotlin encourages programmers to exploit its unique capabilities to boost performance and reduce memory use.
Kotlin has an embeddable JVM that allows running it in a browser or a command-line console without the use of an interpreter.
Kotlin provides built-in support for the development of Android applications using data binding and other features.
The Kotlin compiler and tools are fully open-source and freely available. The compiler is available on GitHub and supports compiling native code for the three major platforms—Android, Windows, and Mac OS X.
Kotlin has several features that make it a great choice for building enterprise-grade apps.

Drawbacks of Kotlin

Performance compared to Java or other compiled languages is not good because Kotlin is not a compilation step but is a language that is interpreted at runtime. This means some optimizations made while compiling for other languages are not present with Kotlin.
Lack of maturity compared to many other programming languages, including Java, Rust, and Python. This is primarily due to the language being relatively new and the fact that it does not have a large community like Java or C#.
Lack of familiarity among some developers due to a different syntax. This is because of the syntactic similarities with other functional programming languages like Haskell or Scala and the fact that it is a new addition to the family of programming languages.

What is Java?

Java is a compiled, statically typed language that originated on Sun Microsystems Inc. It has been widely used in enterprise computing and is popular in the Android app development community. Java was the first object-oriented programming language in widespread use and is a powerful language with many advanced features.

Kotlin provides high-level abstractions for common programming tasks such as string manipulation, database access, and user interfaces. It is well documented, with many useful libraries available for different tasks. Many popular applications are built using Java such as Android applications, LibreOffice, Apache Spark, and Hadoop. Java can be successfully used to develop a wide range of software products, including desktop software, mobile apps, server-side software, and networking infrastructure.

Features of Java

It is very mature and stable with over 20 years of active development and a large user base.
Java runs across multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, OS X) and multiple architectures (32-bit and 64-bit).
The Java ecosystem is very rich with a large library of pre-written code in the form of APIs and frameworks that can be easily integrated into any Java application. This includes support for concurrent programming, cryptography, graphical user interfaces, databases, networking, and so on.
There is very good support (in the form of tutorials, documentation, and tools) for beginning programmers to learn Java.
It has extensive third-party library support (such as the Google Guava library and Apache Commons collections library) that makes it easy to build high-performance applications without having to reinvent the wheel.

Advantage of java

Well-known and popular programming language: Java is a well-known and widely used programming language. It is well-known among developers and has been around for a while. It has a wide ecosystem, making it easier for developers to create Android apps rapidly. It also helps programmers learn new skills and get better jobs faster.
Mature and stable: Java has been around for a long time, and it has been very stable over the years. The language and the libraries have been updated many times over the years, ensuring that they are up-to-date and reliable. This makes Java a good choice for new apps and as a back-end language for existing apps.
Widely used frameworks: There are many popular frameworks and libraries available for Java, making it much easier to build complex apps using Java. Frameworks like Spring, Struts, Hibernate, MongoDB, and Spring Security are all very popular in the Java community and are widely used in the applications built using the language.
Large developer community: Because Java is one of the most popular programming languages, there is a large community of developers and companies that support it. This makes it easy to hire new developers for your development team or to find open-source components that you can use in your projects.

Disadvantage of java

Memory overhead: When running Java applications on servers, the memory requirements of the JVM can have a significant impact on the overall performance of the application.
Slow compilation times: Developing with Java takes a long time because the program must be compiled and executed for each change made during development. This significantly lengthens the time needed to design an application.
Security concerns: The security implications of Java are a concern because it contains an extensive set of built-in libraries that are designed to make it easier for programmers to create applications. These libraries often contain exploitable vulnerabilities that can expose applications to security risks. This can lead to problems with the integrity of the application or loss of sensitive data.

Key Difference between Kotlin And Java

The key difference between Kotlin vs Java is given below:

KOTLIN	JAVA
Kotlin is a statically typed JVM language.	Java is a dynamically typed runtime-interpreted language.
Kotlin provides library support for different operations, like ArrayList, Map, and List.	Java provides only collection classes such as LinkedList and Hashmap etc.
Kotlin is a multi-paradigm programming language that may be used with an object-oriented programming paradigm	Java is an object-oriented language
Kotlin supports both classes and functional programming concepts.	Java supports the concept of class
In Kotlin objects are used to represent values and functions. This means that in Kotlin there is only one copy of an object stored at a time in memory and it behaves as a value type rather than a reference type.	In Java, objects are used to represent a real-world entity/entity or object/object. This means that each object has its own identity. So multiple objects of the same type are stored in the same memory space and they can communicate with one another.
Eg: val name = “Marko” println(name) //Outputs “Marko”	Eg: String varname = “Marko”; System.out.println(varname); //Outputs “Marko”

Which is better, Kotlin or Java?

Both Kotlin and Java have their advantages and can be used for different purposes. They are both capable of working together to create software development projects such as mobile and web applications.

Kotlin is considered to be more developer-friendly than Java as it has a simpler syntax and less boilerplate code, and code that is used in other projects can be reused in it without many changes. It also outperforms Java. This makes it a better alternative for developers searching for a language that is simple to learn and helps them to create apps more quickly.

Conclusions

Kotlin is a modern programming language that outperforms Java in many ways. It is more concise, has better null safety, and supports inline functions. Kotlin also provides improved support for functional programming. Kotlin also provides improved support for functional programming in Kotlin vs Java comparison. Thanks for reading!!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Kotlin more challenging than Java?

Kotlin is NOT more challenging than Java. It is considerably easier to use, especially if you are a seasoned Java developer. Its syntax is very close to Java’s syntax which makes learning Kotlin very easy for Java developers while comparing kotlin vs java.

Is Kotlin replacing Java?

Java will remain relevant for many years to come since millions of applications and devices are still running it and there is no compelling reason to change that. Having said that, there are signs that it may gradually lose its relevance as more developers and companies adopt Kotlin.

Why is Kotlin preferred over Java?

What differentiates Kotlin from Java is the platform it provides to the developer. Since it was first made available, it has continued to evolve and become more feature-rich with each release. As a result, it has steadily gained more and more traction and today it is one of the fastest-growing programming languages in the world.

Is Kotlin more powerful than Java?

Yes, Kotlin is more powerful than Java. Kotlin has features that Java doesn’t have, and it can solve problems more effectively.

Why is Kotlin better than Java?

There are many reasons why Kotlin is a better choice than Java (Kotlin vs Java), but here are four of the most important:

Kotlin is concise: Unlike Java, which can be verbose and difficult to read.
Kotlin allows you to write code more naturally and with fewer errors: In Kotlin, you don’t have to perform lengthy conversions between numeric types just to perform a simple mathematical operation like addition or subtraction.
Kotlin has great libraries: There are libraries for just about anything you want to do in Kotlin. Libraries give you pre-built functionality that you can leverage in your apps without having to create it from scratch yourself.
Kotlin is easy to learn: There’s an understandable learning curve to get started with Kotlin, but once you know the basics, writing code is quick and easy.