Developing Android mobile apps with Kotlin

Developing Android mobile apps with Kotlin
Developing Android mobile apps with Kotlin

With Android dominating the world of mobile technology, we think that it is the perfect choice for anyone who is looking to make it big in the mobile app development domain. In this article, we will discuss the business trends associated with Android App Development, its official languages and the prerequisites required to master it. 

If you haven’t heard the word “Android” strewn casually in your daily conversations, you must be living under a rock. When you own a mobile device, there’s a 50 per cent chance that it runs on the Android operating system, unless you’re a Windows person, which is a definite rarity in today’s world.

Enter Android! And a multitude of apps that it brought along with. Android and other similar operating systems solved the age-old problem of how to pack in more functionalities into as tiny a device as possible. Android development is nothing but the process of building apps for devices that run on the Android operating system. Whether these are mobiles or tablets or any other handheld device, if they run on Android, all of their apps are essentially built using Android development.

Android, coupled with Google has been massively successful in ensuring that anyone from anywhere in the world can connect to the Internet and has brought people closer to each other, now more than ever. It is the most powerful mobile-based operating system and a popular choice for most of us, thanks to its seamlessness and excellent speed.

While iOS is also a popular operating system, what gives Android its edge is the fact that, unlike iOS, most smartphone companies use Android to build their mobile devices, which also makes them way more affordable. Also, Android has widened its ecosystem to allow developers to build apps for not just a smartphone but a plethora of other devices and accessories including tablets, smartwatches, TVs and more all the while being able to provide the option to have one synchronised with the other.


Where to begin?

The official language to develop Android apps is Java. It is well supported by Google, which is why most apps currently available at the Play Store are developed in Java.
In 2017, Kotlin was announced to be the second official language for all Android app development.

Kotlin is a cross-platform programming language that can interoperate with Java and runs on the Java Virtual Machine. Other than these two principal languages Android apps are also developed with C#, C++, Python and Corona. However, if you are planning to study Android development or wish to become a developer of Android applications, consider studying Kotlin because it’s new and shiny, most companies might seek developers who can work with Kotlin. This is especially important if you’re a beginner.

Even if you’re not a beginner and have a bit of experience in working with Java, it’ll be a good incentive to add Kotlin to your skillset.

Prerequisites to learning Kotlin in Android

If you can already programme in Java, you can start building Android apps. What’s more, you’re also good to start learning Kotlin right away, thanks to the similar syntax. But even if you don’t, a basic understanding of Object-Oriented Programming Language and basic Data Structures should be enough to get you started.

Kotlin has captured the heart and attention of programmers because it is modern and allows us to bring apps quicker to the playground. It eliminates writing boilerplate code and allows developers to focus on being creative and flexible with their code. It also allows for easy maintenance and has tons of language features that help developers avoid common programming mistakes.

Android is one of the largest selling mobile technology, which is why companies are often scouting talent in the Android development domain. While a lot of Android applications are still built with Java, Kotlin is now becoming more promising than ever.

Businesses now are opting to build their programmes with Kotlin, mainly because of its inherent safeguard that nudges developers to have a closer look at their potential mistakes, thereby resulting in robust applications that are protected against failures and crashes. It’s also very, very concise and eliminates the verbosity that comes with Java. Less code to write means fast development and quick release cycles.

As a student who’s had experience with coding in Java, it’s fairly simple to learn and pick up Kotlin. The syntax of Kotlin is largely similar to that of Java, which makes it very intuitive and easy to learn.
Moreover, the Kotlin community is supportive and highly responsive. You can connect with developers across the globe and gain expertise, add your contributions and gradually grow and enrich your skill set.

Are you ready to learn Android app development?

You could sign up at your local institute that offers technology courses for a full-time course. Or you could opt for an online training programme. The advantage of studying it online is the flexibility such a programme offers; you could study at a time that suits you best, maybe even while working a full-time job.


An excellent online training platform is Coding Ninjas! For Android, Coding Ninjas offers a deep dive development course that teaches the fundamentals of Kotlin and all of Android components, tools and technologies. By the end of the course, you should be able to implement architectural techniques to build exciting apps. Taught by Ashesh Bharadwaj, a certified Associate Android Developer, Coding Ninjas’ Android Development course with Kotlin takes about 4 to 5 months to complete. This is mostly because it’s a deep dive course and expects students to deliver projects such as movie apps, expense management apps and so on.

Other than constant support across all time slots and even on channels like Slack, Coding Ninjas also provide placement assistance. Their ecosystem is made up of worldwide leaders such as Amazon, Ola, Flipkart and so on.

To read more about Kotlin, click here.

Conclusion

To sum up, embarking on a journey to learn Android app development can be fun and exciting if you put your mind to it. With a little bit of dedication and all the mentoring available online, within the year you can develop your own Android and even cross-platform apps. The way the world is going, mobile and other handheld devices are not going away anytime soon and neither is any of the entertainment that they provide.


With the growing success of Android as an operating system and Android phones dominating the mobile market, we think it is worth investing your time and education funds into it. And if you’re looking for an online training platform, we suggest that you look no further than Coding Ninjas – they have the best tutors and a huge forum of developers who are always available to provide their support and tutelage.

To explore more about our Android Development course, click here.

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