The History of Kotlin
Kotlin is a modern programming language that combines object-oriented and functional programming features. It is concise, safe, and fully interoperable with Java. Kotlin aims to be a more effective programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) than Java itself, removing many of the inconveniences and complications that Java developers have to face.
The Beginning of Kotlin
Kotlin was officially announced by JetBrains, the maker of the world's best IDEs, in July 2011. JetBrains is a software development company whose tools are targeted towards software developers and project managers. Their most famous product is the IntelliJ IDEA, a powerful and ergonomic IDE for JVM languages like Java.
The name 'Kotlin' comes from Kotlin Island, near St. Petersburg, Russia. This reflects the origin of JetBrains, which is a Russian company.
Why Was Kotlin Created?
The main reason behind the creation of Kotlin was the productivity issue with Java. JetBrains needed a language that could quickly provide production-quality code. Scala, Groovy, and other languages, although considered, did not meet the requirements of JetBrains because of their slow compilation time.
Therefore, JetBrains decided to create a language that had a fast compilation time, could use existing Java libraries and frameworks, and provided an efficient and productive coding experience. Thus, Kotlin was born.
Development and Launch
The development of Kotlin started in 2010, and it was open-sourced in 2012. The main focus of Kotlin is to improve the coding experience in terms of practicality and safety. It reduces lots of boilerplate codes which are common in languages like Java.
The first official stable release of Kotlin, i.e., Kotlin v1.0, was out on February 15, 2016. After that, JetBrains committed to long-term backward compatibility starting with this version.
Kotlin and Android
In May 2017, Google announced that Kotlin is an official language for Android application development. Google's Android team were impressed with Kotlin and believed that it makes Android development faster and more fun.
Later, in 2019, Google announced Kotlin as a preferred language for Android app developers. Since then, Kotlin has seen a massive surge in popularity, and many Android developers have switched from Java to Kotlin.
Kotlin Today
Today, Kotlin has a vibrant and passionate community of developers. It is heavily used in Android development and is gaining popularity in backend development as well. Kotlin's concise syntax and safety features, like null safety, make it a fantastic choice for developers.
With continuous improvements and updates, Kotlin is evolving and growing. It is not just limited to Android development; it is now used for Web development, Server-side development, Data Science, and much more.
Kotlin has indeed come a long way since its inception. With its increasing popularity and growing community, Kotlin has a bright future in the world of programming.
In conclusion, Kotlin is a modern, expressive, and versatile language that is easy to learn and enjoyable to use. So, if you're a beginner, Kotlin is a great language to start your programming journey.