Say Goodbye To Java: Getting Started With Kotlin For Android Development
- 1. Say Goodbye to Java: Getting Started With Kotlin for Android Adam Magaña
- 2. Introduction
- 3. Introduction ● Adam Magaña ● Lead Mobile Engineer @ Drund ● Currently spending most of my development time working on our Android application.
- 4. A Quick History of Kotlin
- 5. A Quick History of Kotlin ● Created by JetBrains ○ Creator of IntelliJ, the IDE that powers Android Studio ● First release - July 2011 ● Latest release (1.1.3) - June 2017 ● Official endorsement by Google as first-class language - May 2017 ● 8,000+ total releases on GitHub
- 6. “We believe Kotlin is an excellent fit for Android not only because it gives developers what they want, but also because it matches the spirit of Android.” - Google Developer Product Group
- 8. Companies Using Kotlin ● Pinterest ● Netflix ● AWS ● Uber ● Square ● Trello
- 9. 10% Reduction in total methods after converting Basecamp to Kotlin.
- 10. 30% Reduction in total lines of code after converting Basecamp to Kotlin.
- 12. “But I’m comfortable and experienced with Java.” ● That’s great! ● You ultimately have to use what you’re most comfortable with. ● BUT “give it 5 minutes” before reacting.
- 13. “I don’t want to convert my entire codebase to a new language.” ● Kotlin can be any percentage of your project. ● Fully compatible with JDK 6. ● 100% interoperable with existing Java code.
- 14. “I don’t need Kotlin’s special tools to get the job done.” ● An experienced developer absolutely doesn’t need Kotlin. ● Much can be accomplished with Java. ● BUT barring architectural/performance issues, why would you want to have less tools available to you?
- 15. “I’m worried about the performance implications of using Kotlin.” ● Performance is as good as an equivalent Java application. ● Kotlin lambdas often run faster than the same code written in Java. ● Incremental project builds using Kotlin are usually faster.
- 16. A Very Small Soapbox
- 17. A Very Small Soapbox ● Don’t let anyone, myself included, make you feel inadequate for choosing a different programming language or platform than them. ● Will there be better alternatives to what you use? Yes. ● Does that mean the service you provide to your users is sub-par? No. ● Is it okay to have differing opinions about certain technologies? Absolutely. ● Important to be supportive.
- 18. We’re all in this together.
- 19. Setting Up Kotlin in Android Studio
- 20. Setting Up Kotlin in Android Studio ● Extremely easy setup for both major versions of AS ● Plugin for AS 2.3.X ○ Preferences > Plugins > Install JetBrains Plugin ● Baked-in support in AS 3.0.0 (beta) ○ Also includes: ■ A new profiler tool ■ A network/request analyzer (!)
- 21. Installing the plugin for AS 2.3.X
- 23. Kotlin: The Basics - Variable Declarations
- 24. Kotlin: The Basics - Function Declarations
- 25. Kotlin: The Basics - Class Declarations
- 26. Kotlin: The Cool Parts
- 27. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Data Classes (http://bit.ly/2xhvVlh)
- 28. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Elvis Operator
- 29. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Extension Functions
- 30. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Named and Default Arguments
- 31. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - When
- 32. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Operator Overloading
- 33. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Object Desctructuring
- 34. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - Custom Infix Operators
- 35. Kotlin: The Cool Parts - And Much More! ● Lambda functions ● Easier string interpolation ● Simplified getter/setter syntax ● Coroutines ● “Synthetic” plugin to replace findViewById (similar to Butterknife)
- 36. Converting Java to Kotlin
- 37. Converting Java to Kotlin - Using the Converter
- 38. Converting Java to Kotlin - Double Bangs
- 39. Converting Java to Kotlin - Companion Objects
- 41. Drawbacks To Kotlin ● It’s new ○ Initial development with Kotlin will be slower ○ Code patterns/anti-patterns not fully flushed out yet ● Java has more robust static analysis tools ● Much smaller developer community than Java’s ● Adds ~727kB to the total size of your project
- 42. Over time the benefits of using Kotlin will continue to grow.
- 43. Give it a try!
- 44. Thank you! Twitter: @adammagana GitHub: @adammagana