Introduction

Kotlin is a popular programming language for developing cross-platform mobile applications. It allows developers to write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms, such as Android and iOS. Here are some of the benefits of using Kotlin for cross-platform mobile app development:

• Code sharing: Kotlin allows developers to share code between different platforms, which reduces development time and costs.

• Ease of use: Kotlin is easy to learn and use, especially for developers who are already familiar with Java.

• Interoperability: Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, which means that developers can use existing Java libraries and frameworks in their Kotlin projects.

• Performance: Kotlin is a high-performance language that compiles to native code, which results in faster app performance.

Best practices

When it comes to cross-platform mobile app development using Kotlin, there are several best practices that developers should follow:

• Design for multiple platforms: Developers should design their apps with multiple platforms in mind to ensure that they look and function well on all devices.

• Use platform-specific features: While cross-platform development is all about code sharing, it’s important to use platform-specific features when necessary to provide the best user experience.

• Test thoroughly: Developers should test their apps thoroughly on all platforms to ensure that they work as expected.

• Optimize performance: Developers should optimize their apps for performance by minimizing resource usage and reducing load times.

Server-side frameworks for Kotlin

Kotlin is a great fit for developing server-side applications. It allows you to write concise and expressive code while maintaining full compatibility with existing Java-based technology stacks, all with a smooth learning curve.

Here are some examples of server-side frameworks for Kotlin:

1. Spring: Spring makes use of Kotlin’s language features to offer more concise APIs, starting with version 5.0. The online project generator allows you to quickly generate a new project in Kotlin.

2. Ktor: Ktor is a framework built by JetBrains for creating Web applications in Kotlin, making use of coroutines for high scalability and offering an easy-to-use and idiomatic API.

3. Quarkus: Quarkus provides first-class support for using Kotlin. The framework is open source and maintained by Red Hat. Quarkus was built from the ground up for Kubernetes and provides a cohesive full-stack framework by leveraging a growing list of hundreds of best-of-breed libraries.

Best practices (backend)

When it comes to backend development using Kotlin, there are several best practices that developers should follow:

• Design for multiple platforms: Developers should design their apps with multiple platforms in mind to ensure that they look and function well on all devices.

• Use platform-specific features: While cross-platform development is all about code sharing, it’s important to use platform-specific features when necessary to provide the best user experience.

• Test thoroughly: Developers should test their apps thoroughly on all platforms to ensure that they work as expected.

• Optimize performance: Developers should optimize their apps for performance by minimizing resource usage and reducing load times.

Cross-platform frameworks that use Kotlin

When it comes to cross-platform mobile app development, there are several frameworks available that use Kotlin, Flutter, and React Native. Here’s a comparison of these frameworks based on various grounds:

Framework	UI	Business Logic	Layered Architecture	Interoperability	Easy to go Native	Integration with existing Projects
Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM)	In KMM, we have to write native UI code separately for Android and iOS.	Business logic is common but written in different languages: Kotlin for Android and Swift for iOS.	KMM has the architecture that separates the UI and business logic by default.	Kotlin can interop with Java and other languages.	It is very easy to write native code at any level of coding and at any layer of the architecture.	KMM has the power to get integrated with any existing project.
Flutter	Flutter uses canvas from native SDK of different platforms and draws its own UI component on that canvas using Material design specifications.	Business logic is written in Dart.	Flutter has a layered architecture that separates the UI, business logic, and platform-specific code.	Flutter can interop with Java and other languages.	It is very easy to write native code at any level of coding and at any layer of the architecture.	Flutter has the power to get integrated with any existing project.
React Native	React Native uses native components mapped to JS code.	Business logic is written in JS.	React Native has a layered architecture that separates the UI, business logic, and platform-specific code.	React Native can interop with Java and other languages.	It is very easy to write native code at any level of coding and at any layer of the architecture.	React Native has the power to get integrated with any existing project.

Native developers will move toward KMM as from Android’s perspective it is Kotlin, the same language they are using in the development of their Native apps. If KMM is used by an Android developer then the iOS developer has to do a very little task, creating only the UI of the App rest he will get from the shared code of KMM. From the user’s perspective, they will get separate native apps.

AI has been a part of mobile application development since the early days of the industry. They have been used to improve user experience and automate processes. Mobile applications are becoming increasingly popular as they can provide users with personalized experiences and help developers create more efficient applications.

Instruments:

AI-based mobile applications are developed using a variety of tools and technologies. These include natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), computer vision (CV), and robotics. Each of these technologies can be used to create different types of AI-based mobile applications. For example, NLP can be used to create chatbots that can interact with users in natural language, while ML can be used to create predictive models that can predict user behavior or recommend products or services.

Best Practices:

When developing AI-based mobile applications, it is important to follow best practices in order to ensure that the application is secure and reliable. This includes using secure coding practices, testing the application thoroughly before releasing it into production, and monitoring the application for any potential issues or vulnerabilities. Additionally, developers should ensure that they are using the latest versions of the tools and technologies they are using in order to ensure that their application is up-to-date with the latest security patches and features.

Trends:

The use of AI in mobile application development is growing rapidly as more companies recognize its potential benefits. As more companies adopt AI technology, there will be an increased demand for developers who are experienced in developing AI-based applications. Additionally, as more companies adopt AI technology, there will be an increased demand for tools and technologies that make it easier for developers to develop these types of applications.

Here there are some examples of AI based mobile applications:

• Google Lens: Google Lens is an AI-powered app that uses computer vision to identify objects in the real world. It can recognize text, landmarks, and other objects in photos and videos.

• Viv: Viv is an AI-powered personal assistant app that helps you find information, set reminders, and complete tasks quickly and easily.

• Socratic: Socratic is an AI-powered education app that helps students learn by providing personalized learning paths based on their individual needs. It can answer questions, provide step-by-step explanations, and offer personalized study plans.

• Robinhood: Robinhood is an AI-powered stock trading app that provides users with real-time market data and insights to help them make informed decisions about their investments.

• Replika: Replika is an AI-powered chatbot app that helps users build meaningful relationships with a virtual companion through conversation and activities.

Perspectives for Businesses and Developers:

For businesses, AI-based mobile applications offer a number of benefits including improved user experience through personalized experiences; improved efficiency through automation; improved security through better authentication methods; improved scalability through cloud computing; improved analytics through data mining; improved customer service through chatbots; and improved marketing through targeted campaigns. For developers, developing AI-based mobile applications offers an opportunity to stay ahead of the competition by creating innovative solutions that leverage cutting edge technology. 

Conclusion:

The use of AI in mobile application development is growing rapidly as more companies recognize its potential benefits. As this trend continues to grow, there will be an increased demand for developers who are experienced in developing these types of applications as well as tools and technologies that make it easier for them to do so. 

Rockwolf is well positioned to provide high quality services related to developing AI based mobile apps due its experienced team which has expertise in various programming languages such as Java/Kotlin/Swift/Objective C/C++/Python etc., along with knowledge on various frameworks such as React Native/Flutter/Ionic etc., which helps them develop robust apps quickly & efficiently while leveraging cutting edge technology like Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning algorithms & techniques like Natural Language Processing (NLP) & Computer Vision (CV). Rockwolf also has access to various cloud platforms such as AWS & Google Cloud Platform which helps them scale their apps quickly & efficiently while ensuring high availability & performance at all times.

A large part of the Android apps and the Android itself are based on Java. Java has been always known as the native Android language. But time did not stand still, so Kotlin as a modern language has came into sight and became the second official language for Android.

Kotlin is …

Open-source statically typed programming language. It is inspired by Java (fully compatible and interoperable with Java), but it has some significant improvements and additional features. In July 2011, JetBrains unveiled Project Kotlin, a new language for the JVM. The first version of Kotlin was released on February 15, 2016. In May 2019, Google announced Kotlin as the preferred language for Android development. Enterprise leaders who are making their Android apps with Kotlin: Uber, Netflix, Pinterest, Trello, Twitter, Evernote, Kickstarter, Gradle, Basecamp.

Pros of Kotlin

• Kotlin provides built-in null safety support which is much needed, especially on Android, which is full of old Java-style APIs
• Thanks to Java bytecode, you can use Java libraries and frameworks and be sure they will work with Kotlin modules.
• Code in Kotlin is much smaller than the same functionality code written in Java, which means less room for error.
• Kotlin has modern programming concepts such as delegates, extension functions, higher-order functions, and more to help developers build clean APIs;
• Kotlin incorporates coroutines, as well as interoperability with Javascript for web development.
• Kotlin app deployment is quicker to assemble and prevent applications from expanding the size
• Kotlin script helps to configure projects in Android Studio for auto-completion aids, and it helps to reduce compile-time error detection.
• Developers can benefit from a rapidly growing collection of open source projects on GitHub, many books, learning resources, and online courses;

Cons of Kotlin

• Kotlin has a steep learning curve when switching the entire team to Kotlin.
• Kotlin is slower than Java regarding compilation speed and some features of Android Studio like auto-complete.
• Kotlin developer community is still smaller than Java (for example, at Stack Overflow)
• There are few Kotlin developers available in the market for now. So, finding an experienced person is quite tricky.
• Kotlin matches weak patterns, and code readability.
• Small support community compared with Java and fewer libraries.

What Kotlin offers that Java Doesn’t

• Coroutines A coroutine is a concurrency design pattern that you can use on Android to simplify code that executes asynchronously. Coroutines help to manage long-running tasks that might otherwise block the main thread and cause your app to become unresponsive.
• Singletons A singleton is a design pattern in which a given class has only one single instance inside the entire app.
• Extension functions It allows importing a reference to a View into the activity file, allows working with that view as if a part of the activity.
• First-class delegation Effective alternative to inheritance implementation.
• Null-Safety Kotlin solves the NullPointerExceptions problem by making all types non-nullable by default.
• String Templates Developers can assign dynamic values directly to their strings and print statements in Kotlin using templates.
• Primary Constructors Are used to initialize the class. It can be declared at the class header level allowing to automatically initialize the variables.
• Lambda expressions and higher-order functions – specialized language constructs
• Type inference for variable and property types You don’t need to define the data type of a variable explicitly as the Kotlin compiler will do it for you automatically.
• Smart Casts Automatic handling of redundant casts without having to check type or having to cast inside a statement.
• Declaration site variance and type projections Kotlin doesn’t have wildcard types. Instead, it has two other things: declaration-site variance and type projections.
• Operator Overloading Kotlin allows you to provide custom implementations for the predefined set of operators on types. These operators have predefined symbolic representation (like + or *) and precedence.
• Companion Objects In Kotlin, if you want to write a function or any member of the class that can be called without having the instance of the class then you can write the same as a member of a companion object inside the class. So, by declaring the companion object, you can access the members of the class by class name only without explicitly creating the instance of the class.
• Separate interfaces for read-only and mutable collections Unlike Java, Kotlin has two different interfaces for working with collections. The plain Collection interface handles accessing data and then the MutableCollection interface handles modifying the data.
• Data Classes The concept of Data Classes represents simple classes used as data containers and does not encapsulate any additional logic. It enables us to avoid writing a lot of boilerplate code.
• Range Expressions In Kotlin we can create ranges using the rangeTo() and downTo() functions or the .. operator.

Pros of Java

• Java is easy to learn and understand.
• Works well for native as well as cross-platform apps, can work on any device, server, or operating system.
• There are many useful and tested Java libraries, open-source ecosystems available for programmers.
• This programming language is simple to use, compiling, and making debugging.
• Assembling large projects is a simple process, thanks to the accelerated assembly with Gradle.
• The build process is faster.
• Creating modular applications and reusing the parts is easier.

Cons of Java

• Java has limitations that cause problems with Android API design due to inherent limitations.
• Java is slower compared with other programming languages.
• Java requires more memory and so tends to be slower.
• Java requires writing more code, which causes a higher risk of errors and bugs.
• It is difficult to access some content that may be inappropriate for the devices you are using.

What Java offers that Kotlin Doesn’t

• Ternary operator Java has a ternary operator that works like a basic if statement that evaluates whether a condition is true or false.
• Primitive types that are not classes Char, double, float, and byte are primitive types that serve the sole purpose of containing pure, simple values of a specific type. They come with several predefined operations, they are not objects created from a class or structure in Java.
• Static members Java creates a single static member instance that is common to all instances of the class. The static keyword reflects that the particular member with which the keyword was used belongs to the type itself, not an instance.
• Wildcard types Wildcard types have several uses, including the type of a field, local variable, or parameter. Java allows developers to use this type system for advanced functionality.
• Checked exceptions In general, checked exceptions represent errors outside the control of the program. Java checked exceptions are a feature that is still in great demand of developers. Kotlin gets rid of them to keep the code more concise, but many developers still prefer it.

Summary

Many companies are adopting Kotlin as the official Android programming language. The future of Kotlin as a new Android language is certainly encouraging. Although Java will remain a popular language for a long time to come and is unlikely to be completely replaced. Both Java and Kotlin can be used to create efficient and useful applications. But Google encourages developers to start building Android apps with Kotlin and is taking an increasingly Kotlin-centric approach to modern Android development. Many Android Jetpack libraries are either written entirely in Kotlin or support Kotlin language features such as coroutines. Finally, the main “Why use Kotlin for Android” argument might be the fact that Kotlin is designed to solve Java problems. A younger and more modern programming language has pushed Java out of this area. If you need to develop a mobile app for Android, you need to look for Kotlin developers. But remember that It can be a shock to switch an entire team to Kotlin at a time, so it’s important to make this transition slowly, one person at a time.