As you read this blog, you might be receiving notifications from a wide array of applications on your mobile phone and these would have become an integral part of your daily life. For such a long time, the development of these applications was in the hands of Java, the most commonly used programming language for Android. This doesn’t imply that Java is always the best. With the rapid transformation happening in the web and mobile application development sector, we have been witnessing the launch of new programming languages like Scala, Kotlin, Swift and Go.

What is Kotlin?

Considering Java as the go-to-language for all Android programmers, Kotlin is the “one-stop-destination” for all application developments, both for Android and iOS. Being entirely compatible with both Java and its Java Virtual Machine version, Kotlin, sponsored by JetBrains and Google, is a cross-platform, statically typed, general-purpose programming language with type inference; which allows its syntax to be more concise.

Why choose Kotlin?

Java was the programming language that the most developed Android mobile phones were using to run their local applications on their exclusive working frameworks. Although Java’s utilization is across the board, Java accompanies a ton of chronicled stuff.

What Kotlin has that Java does not?

• Performant custom control structures
• Extension functions
• Null-safety
• Smart casts
• String templates
• Declaration-site variance & Type projections
• Primary constructors

Kotlin is the leading-edge programming language answer for Android. There are a couple of things that make Kotlin an incredible fit for Android:

Kotlin Variables

As you know, a variable is a location in the programming language’s memory (storage area) to hold data. To indicate the storage area, each variable is given a unique name (identifier).

How to declare a variable in Kotlin?

In order to declare a variable in Kotlin, either var or val keyword is used. For example,

Here, language is a variable of type String, and score is a variable of type Int. You don't need to determine the type of variables; Kotlin verifiably does that for you. The compiler knows this by initializer expression ("French" is a String, and 95 is an integer in the above program). This is called type interference in programming.

Variables in Kotlin can be permanent if declared with the val keyword or mutable if declared with the var.

Kotlin differentiates between nullable and non-nullable data types. Every nullable object must be declared with a "?" postfix after the type name. Tasks on nullable objects need exceptional consideration from developers and null-check must be performed before you use the value. Kotlin gives null-safe administrators to support developers:

• ?. (safe navigation operator) can be used to safely access a method or property of a possibly null object. If the object is null, the method will not be called, and the expression evaluates to null.
• ?: (null coalescing operator) often referred to as the Elvis operator:
  

From the IT leaders, the shift to a new programming language is always a well-thought process. There has been a gradual migration from Java to Kotlin happening in the Android application development sector. Choosing the appropriate Android app development technology stack is an important step towards app development for any business. Kotlin is here to stay and businesses must take cognizance of that if they haven’t already because he is going to be the survivor of the future.