Overview
Let’s learn Kotlin features in this tutorial. Kotlin programing language is recommended by Google to build Android applications.
Kotlin Features
Some of the Kotlin features are as follows:
- Concise
- Object-oriented
- Statically typed language
- Asynchronous
- Safe
- Interoperable
- Multi-platform
Concise
Kotlin code is more concise than Java code. Kotlin reduces boilerplate code. Kotlin automatically generates equals(), hashCode(), toString(), and copy() for the data class.
Interoperable
Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java language, which means that you can use Kotlin and Java code together in the same project. We can call Kotlin code from the Java code and vice versa without any issues. Kotlin is JVM-compatible. This feature allows it to easily adopt Kotlin in existing Java projects.
Multi-platform
We can have the same codebase for multiple mobile platforms like Android and iOS. We can use Kotlin to develop Android applications/ backend apps/ frontend apps/ cross-platform mobile applications or multi-platform libraries.
Object-oriented
Kotlin is an object-oriented programming language like C++, Java, etc. We can design and program real-world entities as objects and data.
Statically Typed Language
Kotlin programming language is statically typed, which means that the type of every variable and expression is checked at compile time. This feature helps in code readability and helps catch errors early.
Asynchronous
Kotlin uses coroutines for non-blocking code execution. Kotlin provides native support for coroutines, which are a way to write asynchronous and concurrent code in a more sequential and structured manner. Coroutines are suspendable functions that can execute, pause and resume at a later point in time without blocking the other code execution.
Coroutines simplify asynchronous programming by providing lightweight threads that can be easily suspended and resumed.
Safe
Kotlin has a feature called Null Safety. Kotlin has built-in null safety features to help prevent null pointer exceptions, which are a common source of bugs in many programming languages.
Kotlin introduces nullable and non-nullable types, along with various operators and constructs to handle null values safely. This feature eliminates the risk of occurrence of the NullPointerException(NPE)
Kotlin offers a powerful set of features and excellent tooling support. Kotlin has excellent integration with build tools like Gradle, making it easy to build and manage Kotlin projects. It is also the officially supported language for Android app development, and many Android developers have adopted Kotlin as their preferred language for building Android applications.
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More information on the Kotlin programming language: