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Android now supports Kotlin

venturebeat.com

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Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#71

Post by dhfhduk »

allover wrote: post #23
geodel wrote: post #5

Well this looks like going to push Kotlin in big league. I remember scala enthusiasts made big noise in last few years to have scala as officially supported language. But Google seems to prefer a closer relationship with Jetbrains.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal.

The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my hair out.

Languages like Scala, Haskell, Rust, etc. are preferable to me in that way. Kotlin seems nice and clean--from what I've seen so far, with this "Android bump", Kotlin native, etc., I could even see it replacing Python--but I worry there's something lurking deeper.

This is the clearest thing I've found so far, but it's very old at this point:

http://codeofrob.com/entries/looking-at-kotlin---kicking-the...

It includes this quote that stokes my fears: "It feels as if the language designers haven't really designed at this point, they've just thrown a load of stuff at the wall because inheritance is something that all Java developers want and given us a few bad ways of doing something as well as something that has the potential to make us write better Java."

I don't have any attachment to Scala. However, I do think Scala, Rust, etc. have moved language design forward in significant, fundamental ways, and it would be nice to see those advancements recognized in the Android platform.

Take this all with a grain of salt, though, because I know next to nothing about Kotlin.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#72

Post by maxpert »

Finally!!! JetBrains has been doing an awesome job on Kotlin. Languages is a very subjective and taste specific thing, but it's way better than just having Java. Anyhow I have been arguing over moving to it for quite some time now here is a shameless plug https://hackernoon.com/in-pursuit-of-better-jvm-futures-kotl...

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#73

Post by Larrikin »

matsemann wrote: post #68

What does it mean being "supported", given that one already can use Kotlin on Android?

Built into Android Studio without having to install anything extra seems like the main draw.

Official support will also make it easier for people to push for Kotlin in larger projects

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#74

Post by pjmlp »

bitmapbrother wrote: post #39
pjmlp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Java, Python and C++ are the actual workhorse languages at Google. Go doesn't seem to be used that much other than a few known projects like the stuff that got re-written for YouTube or the download server. You see this when new Web APIs are released, usually Go isn't part of the preview SDKs, and on Android all the work done on Go mobile has been done by people on the Go team or from the community at large.

Dart runs all of their AdSense code. I also believe your information about the usage of Go at Google is also out of date.

Dart runs the AdSense code, because the AdSense team rescued the Dart team when the decision came to them stop being part of Chrome development efforts.

Regarding Go at Google, if you have better sources of information to share with those living outside Mountain View, it would be very helpful.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#75

Post by kbumsik »

sswezey wrote: post #54

This, along with recent Kotlin Native news, lends me to believe Google is investigating some alternative platforms for replacing their dependence on Java APIs and removing any possibility of being further hamstrung by Oracle.

This news sounds quite opposite to me. Although adding a new language is always a good news but Kotlin won't solve any problems with Oracle, since it is just another JVM language. This news sounds like Google is going for an easier way instead of ditching Oracle stuff.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#76

Post by pjmlp »

matsemann wrote: post #68

What does it mean being "supported", given that one already can use Kotlin on Android?

It means:

- being documented on https://developers.google.com

- being installed by default with the SDK

- having official tutorials provided by the Android team using Kotlin

- having code samples provided by the Android team using Kotlin

Providing the confidence to many companies out there that Google will not change Android in a way that Kotlin compiled applications would stop working.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#78

Post by oblio »

monkmartinez wrote: post #43
bitmapbrother wrote: post #28

Looks like Kotlin will soon be skyrocketing to the top of the TIOBE charts.

Disclaimer: I am always looking for that Unicorn. The one that will let me write my code once and run it on all platforms. I refuse to give up this quest. I use Pycharm and have used other Jetbrains IDE's in the past. They make me soooo very happy to use. That is, I have tried almost every Python IDE and suped up Vim/Emacs; None of them came close to Pycharm for me. They know cross platform. Their IDE's are just as b…

Funnily enough I was also looking for this unicorn recently.

I was aiming for Windows/Linux/Mac/iOS/Android.

In the end the two platform that were closest at the time (summer 2016) were HTML/Javascript and C#. Or C/C++ with OpenGL for the hardcore (not me!).

The real killer these days is the GUI toolkit. Ideally you'd want a SWT/Wx type wrapper around native widgets, most likely with a desktop flavor and a mobile one. Unfortunately nobody's investing in it, I think there's not enough money to be made. And there's no OSS community for it...

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#79

Post by behnamoh »

Ciantic wrote: post #18

Post in JetBrains/Kotlin blog: https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2017/05/kotlin-on-android-...

I really wished they would choose Swift. It's open source now, and many developers would definitely enjoy having to learn only one programming language for developing native apps.

Unfortunately, corporate policies and hubris matter more in these things.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#80

Post by MBlume »

dhfhduk wrote: post #71
allover wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal. The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my…

I think the case for Kotlin over Scala is that the runtime you have to link into your app is substantially smaller, which is important for mobile.
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