May 17, 2017

Kotlin made official for Android

At Google I/OGoogle's annual developer conference — Android, cloud, AI, and web platform announcements. on May 17, 2017, Google announced KotlinA modern language from JetBrains — officially supported for Android and interoperable with Java. as an officially supported language for AndroidGoogle's open mobile operating system — the dominant platform for smartphones worldwide. development alongside JavaA portable language running on the JVM — dominant in enterprise servers, Android, and big data..

What it was for

Kotlin (programming language)Google's endorsement turned KotlinA modern language from JetBrains — officially supported for Android and interoperable with Java. from a JetBrains side project into the default choice for new AndroidGoogle's open mobile operating system — the dominant platform for smartphones worldwide. apps. Null safety, coroutines, and JavaA portable language running on the JVM — dominant in enterprise servers, Android, and big data. interop let teams migrate gradually off verbose AndroidGoogle's open mobile operating system — the dominant platform for smartphones worldwide. JavaA portable language running on the JVM — dominant in enterprise servers, Android, and big data. without rewriting entire codebases overnight.

Companies

  • Google
  • JetBrains

Why it's here

Google's backing made KotlinA modern language from JetBrains — officially supported for Android and interoperable with Java. the successor to JavaA portable language running on the JVM — dominant in enterprise servers, Android, and big data. on the world's largest mobile platform.

Why it mattered

Millions of AndroidGoogle's open mobile operating system — the dominant platform for smartphones worldwide. developers gained a modern language with first-class IDEIntegrated development environment — an editor with debugging, build tools, and project management built in. and docs support.

What it solved

AndroidGoogle's open mobile operating system — the dominant platform for smartphones worldwide. JavaA portable language running on the JVM — dominant in enterprise servers, Android, and big data. was verbose and null-prone; Google needed an official modern alternative developers would adopt.

Media

  • Kotlin (programming language)
    ImageKotlin (programming language)

    JetBrains, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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