- Steps on becoming an Android Developer
- An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Kotlin
- Kotlin Docs
- Kotlin language specification
Google announced in 2019 to make Kotlin the preferred way of developmeing Android applications according to roadmap.sh/android. It is a high-level programming language designed to work in conjunction with Java. Kotlin Wiki. It is a useful skill to be able to develop with Kotlin as an Android Developer in 2023.
Pros: Increases team efficiency, complies with existing Java code, Easily maintainable, less buggy, accelerates UI development through Jetpack Compose Cons: Android CompileOptions (language features are based on what's available in current version of JVM supported by Android), fluctuating compilation speed, basic Java understanding is a pre-requisite Pros and Cons of Kotlin for Android App Development
The following are topics to study to master Kotlin in arguably the best order.
Learning the syntax is the first step of learning a language. It is impossible to understand a language without understanding its syntax. What is syntax in a programming language? The following link will guide a biginner on basic Kotlin syntax: Basic Kotlin Syntax
After understanding Kotlin's basic syntax, a beginner will have the toolkit to understand basic Kotlin code. Understanding by example is the crucial next step on learning a language. Learn Kotlin by Example
Now that we are able to write working code, it is vital to write clean, extendable and readable code. Hence why learning Kotlin's coding conventions is our next step. Writing easy-to-follow code will allow a beginner to work with other programmers more easily and avoid any hair-pulling bugs. Kotlin Coding conventions
By now a learner should have understood data types in Kotlin, thus we will skip this concept. If a learner is not confident in their knowledge on Kotlin's data types feel free to access the following short video: Kotlin Data Types Control flow are the statements inside source files that are direct execution. These include if statements, loops, returns and jumps, and exceptions. Kotlin Control Flow Understanding Kotlin's control flow is the basic first step to writing executable Kotlin code.
Packages and imports allow programmers to extend code that they are able to write, thus understanding how imports work is vital Kotlin packages and imports Thankfully importing in Kotlin is very similar to Java.
There are many topics in classes and objects including classes, inheritance, properties, interfaces to name a few, but the theory behind Kotlin's classes and objects are very similar to Java, thus a programmer that is familiar with Java should simply skim through this concept. Otherwise, be sure to study each subsection in classes and objects very thoroughly to understand larger Kotlin projects Classes
Learning all of Kotlin's concepts is the final step to escape being labeled a beginner. There are many more other concepts in Kotlin, and the order to study them is as follows: Functions, Null safety, Equality, This expressions, Asynchronous programming techniques, Coroutines, Annotations, Destructuring declerations, and finally Reflection. The Concepts section on the following website is complete on information on these topics Kotlin Docs
There are many routes to take when learning Kotlin, and the route above is just one of many. There are many more things to learn about Kotlin which were not covered but are available in the Kotlin Docs. Feel free to play around with the order of topics and do not get frustrated if a topic becomes challenging, because you aren't learning if you aren't frustrated!