Why Kotlin for Android Development?

I think many will remember mobile games and applications written in the Java programming language. "Plants vs. Zombies", "Minecraft", "Doodle Jump", and many other games were incredibly popular in the past. Additionally, a large number of mobile applications and mobile versions of websites were written in Java.

But times change, and JetBrains has developed an innovative language designed to replace Java in mobile application development, and they succeeded. This language, based on Java, takes the best features and eliminates the drawbacks. Kotlin is now the number one language in the world for Android app development.

Let's consider the advantages of this programming language and why developers are choosing it over Java:

1. Compatibility with Java: Kotlin is compatible with Java at the bytecode level, allowing developers to easily use existing Java libraries and frameworks;
2. More concise and cleaner code: Kotlin requires fewer lines of code to accomplish the same tasks as Java. Its syntax is more concise and expressive, making the code more readable and easier to maintain;
3. Integration with Android Studio: Kotlin is fully supported by Android Studio, the official IDE for Android development. This includes support for auto-completion, refactoring, debugging, and other development tools;
4. Modern language features: Kotlin supports a variety of modern language features, such as lambda expressions, when expressions, smart casts, destructuring declarations, and much more, making the code more expressive and powerful.

These are just some of the key advantages of Kotlin that make it popular among programmers. In the first half of this course, you will familiarize yourself with this programming language and learn how to use it for simple applications and functions!