May 2, 2022

Kotlin

This was the other big surprise. Google has moved from Java to a language called Kotlin.

The more I look into this, the better I like it. I never did like Java, and Kotlin looks a lot like a nice modern language. Nobody likes being caught off guard by change, but this actually looks good.

You can still use Java (or so they say), but their focus is now on Kotlin. I thought it might be a nice idea to just install kotlin on my Fedora machine and begin learning about it, but that is apparently a nightmare involving juggling various java JRE versions.

As of October, 2022, Kotlin 1.7 is the latest version.

As for the Kotlin language, it is different and less verbose than Java. Less verbose is good. Java was always ridiculous. Yet, it is just another one-off imperative language to learn.

The above pages on the android developer site are definitely worth studying. They discuss how Java and Kotlin can coexist and/or how Java can be converted to Kotlin.

Why Kotlin?

Note that in 2010, Oracle did file a lawsuit against Google for using the Java API. Could this be yet another factor influencing Google's move to Kotlin? Who knows.
Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org