How can you use Kotlin to build high-performance Android apps?

1 Why Kotlin?

Kotlin was designed to address some of the common pain points of Java developers, such as verbosity, null pointer exceptions, and boilerplate code. Kotlin is also fully compatible with Java, which means you can use existing libraries, frameworks, and tools without any hassle. Kotlin also supports multi-platform development, which means you can share code between Android, iOS, web, and desktop applications.

2 How to get started with Kotlin?

To start using Kotlin for Android development, you need to install the Android Studio IDE and the Kotlin plugin. You can create a new project with Kotlin support or convert an existing Java project to Kotlin using the built-in converter tool. You can also use the online playground to experiment with Kotlin code without installing anything. You can find more resources and tutorials on the official Kotlin website and the Android developers website.

4 How to use coroutines?

Coroutines are a powerful feature of Kotlin that allow you to write asynchronous and non-blocking code in a sequential and declarative way. Coroutines are like lightweight threads that can run in parallel, without blocking the main thread. You can use coroutines to perform tasks that involve network, database, or disk operations, without affecting the user interface. To use coroutines, you need to add the kotlinx-coroutines-android dependency to your project and use the suspend, launch, and async keywords. Here is an example of a coroutine that fetches data from a remote API:

suspend fun fetchData(): String {
  // make a network request and return the response
}
fun showData() {
  // launch a coroutine in the main thread
  lifecycleScope.launch {
    // call the suspend function and get the result
    val data = fetchData()
    // update the UI with the data
    textView.text = data
  }
}        

6 How to learn more about Kotlin?

Kotlin is an ever-evolving language with plenty of features and benefits for Android development. To gain a better understanding of Kotlin, you can read the official documentation and guides on the Kotlin website, watch videos and podcasts on the Kotlin YouTube channel and Talking Kotlin podcast, join online communities and forums such as Stack Overflow, Reddit, Slack, and Discord, attend online and offline events and workshops from both the Kotlin website and Android developers website, as well as explore open source projects and libraries on GitHub and the Android Arsenal.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?