Google supports Kotlin
When did you hear of Kotlin?
Kotlin is an Android-compatible language that is concise, expressive, and designed to be type- and null-safe. It works with the Java language seamlessly, so it makes it easy for developers who love the Java language to keep using it but also incrementally add Kotlin code and leverage Kotlin libraries.
Kotlin is now Google’s preferred language for Android app development, as announced 3 months ago: “Many new Jetpack APIs and features will be offered first in Kotlin. If you’re starting a new project, you should write it in Kotlin; code is written in Kotlin often means much less code for you–less code to type, test, and maintain.” — Chet Haase, chief advocate for Android.
1 No! It is 100% interoperable with Java, which until now was Google’s primary language for writing Android apps (besides C++). For the execution speed of the same app written either with Java or Kotlin, as claimed by JetBrains, it is almost the same. Kotlin is slightly faster in compiling, compared to Java.
Android Studio as the IDE
Kotlin is fully supported in Android Studio 3.0 and higher. Previously, using Kotlin required that you add the Kotlin plugin, but all new releases of Android Studio ship with these tools built-in. So you can create new projects with Kotlin files, convert Java language code to Kotlin, debug Kotlin code, and more, without any extra steps.
4th most loved programming language as More than 50% of professional Android developers now use the language to develop their apps, Google says, and in the latest Stack Overflow developer survey.
Last but not least important: Which versions of Android does Kotlin support? the happy outcome is all of them! Kotlin is compatible with JDK 6, so apps with Kotlin safely run on older Android versions.
DataHouse is ready to help our partners with either Java or Kotlin for Native Android Development. This Kotlin is available in our skillsets.