So Google have recently announced that they are
Kotlin first when it comes to Android app development.
So what does Kotlin First mean?
But more importantly perhaps,
how does this affect you as a developer?
Let's talk about that in today's video.
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(techno music)
So welcome back, my name is Tim Buchalka
with another programming tip of the day.
And we're talking about this Kotlin First initiative
that Google are now talking about
and recommending for Android app development.
So giving a little bit of context,
firstly, Google and Jetbrains
Jetbrains is the uh, uh, company that actually created
the Kotlin languag initially.
They have now formed a foundation
The Kotlin Foundation, and the purpose of that foundation
is to uh protect, to promote, and to advance
the Kotlin programming language.
So I think that's a big clue there as to the intention
of Google and also Jetbrains.
Now Kotlin itself is an open source language
being developed on GitHub.
Now that's fantastic because that means that anyone
can contribute to the language
And so that's unlike a lot of other programming languages
which are closed sourced.
Meaning that you can't uh commit total add functionality
self-taught.
So one of the foundations though,
biggest uh tasks is to ensure that new features
that are being created and contributed by developers
don't actually break the overall design goals of Kotlin.
In other words, there is someone driving that process,
That's a good thing as well,
because it makes sure that Kotlin
advances in the right direction.
Now, one big advantage of Kotlin to look at
is that there is no licencing problems with it
unlike the potential licencing problems that exist
with using Java on the Android platform.
Now right now there isn't a problem,
but you may be aware that Oracle,
the creators of Java and Google
have been in court multiple times over Google's use of
Java in the Android platforms.
So basically you are doing away with any issues relating
to that if you move over to Kotlin.
Now at the recent Google I/0 conference,
so that was in this month when I'm recording this video,
in May 2019, Google announced that uh
from their statistics of the developers
who are using their Android studio product,
50% now of these developers, these pro Android developers,
are already using Kotlin.
So again that's a big thing.
You can say that Kotlin only released 2 years ago
has already hit 50%.
And that's basically pretty major in my opinion,
and it's just going to go up and up from here.
Now they also mention, which I found was pretty interesting
that Kotlin, itself,
is the fastest growing language on GitHub.
Now that's 2 more big reasons there
why I think to be using Kotlin.
Now getting back to Kotlin First though,
which I mentioned at the start of the video.
So what does that actually mean?
And at that same conference, the Google I/O conference,
Google announced that Android is Kotlin First.
Now by that Google are actually making more things
or more stuff if you will,
available for Kotlin developers first
before other languages.
And that's certainly a departure from previous years
where if the board introduced a new API
or some new functionality, it would generally be available
for Java developers first.
Well they are switching that now
and they are actually making it available
for Kotlin developers first.
And an example of that they used there was
Jetpacks API's are being released
for Kotlin developers first.
Pretty big statement there.
Now again, this was a big change as I mentioned
where previously they promoted and uh
released stuff for Java first.
Google also made a strong recommendation
at that same conference when you are creating
a new Android project, starting a new project from scratch,
they recommend you always do it in Kotlin.
Again that's a departure from previous years as well.
Now one of the reasons, so what 3 good reasons you can uh
consider using Kotlin,
less to type, less to test, and less to maintain.
Now if you add to that
that already 50% of the pro developers
according to their stats are already using Kotlin,
then I think the time is here for you right now
to start adopting Kotlin for basically for your
Adroid app development.
Basically what I'm saying is, that uh from my point of view
in my opinion, you should actually be developing in Koltlin
and for anytime you are actually developing Androd apps
moving forward.
But uh, with that said though
that brings up an interesting question,
What's going to happen to people who are coding apps
in Java? Android apps in Java now?
Well, the good news is, Google also announced though
that they will continue to support
and invest in Java on the platform.
So it's not as if uh,
all of the code that you've written in Java,
if you have for Android apps is wasted,
because let's face it,
years and years and years of our programming code
that's been released in Java, uh for Android apps.
So it'd be uh crazy, I think,
in my opinion for Google to get rid of that
and suddenly make that incompatible.
So what I'm trying to say is all your code,
that you've written in Java for,
and for the Android app platform
is still going to work number 1,
but secondly, but it's also going to be supported
moving forward with Google as well.
And uh, you can also basically use C++ and Java
is what they are saying anytime you want to create
uh basically Android apps.
Which is pretty good,
but uh their recommendation is to focus on Kotlin itself.
So basically, you're still going to get support from
all programming languages, and that's important as well.
The bottom line here is that uh Koltin First should be your
plan, so anytime you're creating new projects certainly,
my recommendation and I'll be doing this moving forward,
I'll be using Kotlin as the first approach
that's the first thing I'm gonna do,
is basically look at coding in Kotlin
but any legacy applications will continue to be supported.
And you can still use Java if you want to.
Now if you haven't already though,
check out the Google I/O conference videos,
they're available on YouTube,
and the Google developers channel, I should say
and there is a playlist there for
the Google I/O Conference.
And I think there's about 178 videos there,
fantastic videos to watch on lots of different areas
within Android app development.
Certainly recommend uh you subscribe to that channel
and uh check that out.
And basically there's a link also
in the description to that playlist,
to the playlist for the Google I/O developers conference
So check those out,
specifically the one that will be of interest to you first,
which I've quoted some points from,
is the uh Google developers playlist,
the uh Keynote, I should say, it's about 30 or 45 minutes.
So checkout that keynote, the developers keynote,
for a lot more information about what's happened.
But for me, this is quite big
Android are now pushing Kotlin,
so uh I think you should be really looking
to get skilled up as quickly as possible in Kotlin
moving forward for Android app development.
All righty, so I hope that helped.
If you've got any questions feel free to leave a comment
and I'll get back to you.
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