Why Kotlin’s First-Class Status Transforms Android Development

At Google I/O 2017 the company announced that Kotlin is now an official first‑class language for Android development. Kotlin, created by JetBrains, interoperates seamlessly with Java and offers features that Java does not provide.

Don’t Dare to Use Kotlin?

Before Google’s backing, using Kotlin for Android was considered a fringe practice with no official support, leading to maintenance headaches and reluctance to adopt the language.

Now developers can confidently claim that Kotlin is officially supported and urge teams to adopt it.

Want to Use Lambdas?

Kotlin makes lambda expressions easy and natural, whereas Java 8’s lambda support is limited and awkward on Android. Google’s delayed support for lambdas meant developers had to wait for future API versions, but Kotlin provides immediate, clean lambda usage.

With Kotlin, functions are first‑class citizens, making functional programming and lambda usage effortless.

Want to Use Coroutines?

When dealing with asynchronous APIs such as the new Camera API, callbacks can become tangled. Kotlin coroutines allow developers to write code that looks synchronous while handling asynchronous operations under the hood.

Coroutines offer several advantages:

Code appears intuitive and easy to read.

Exception handling is simple—one try…catch block suffices.

Resource consumption is low compared to creating multiple thread pools.

In Kotlin 1.1 coroutines are already mature, marked as experimental, and expected to stabilize further in Kotlin 1.2.

WTFUtils

Many projects accumulate utility classes like StringUtils, ImageUtils, BitmapUtils, and LogUtils, leading to clutter. Kotlin’s extension functions let developers add utility methods directly to existing types, reducing the need for such generic utility classes.

Null‑Pointer Exceptions?

Java Android code often suffers from NullPointerExceptions. Kotlin’s nullable types and safe‑call operators help eliminate these crashes.

Related Reading

Why You Need Kotlin

Essential Android Knowledge: Why Kotlin Is Worth Trying