Kotlin is a new programming language developed by the guys at JetBrains. Since it’s version 0.9 I’ve been testing the syntax and features and I must say that it’s amazing.
I developed a couple of Android apps which are now released in Google Play. Made 100% with Kotlin.
Bubblr is an application meant for the guy that wants a really fast shortcut to his everyday apps. it wants to be a very lightweight app launcher based on FABs (Floating Action Buttons). It is intended to be really simple to use and very lightweight (approximately 8 MB).The launcher adapts to the screen drawing an Arc of buttons that you can add, remove (swiping) and even sort by doing drag & drop with the buttons. Buttons are customizable, having the ability of being bubbles or icons within colored FABs (colors also customizable). The free edition has an Ad Banner at the bottom, safe and not intrusive. The Full edition doesn’t have Ads.
Augmented Fence (AFence) is an augmented reality fence, which uses Google Maps to display points stored in a sorted list, drawing a polygonal figure, and determining whether the user is inside or outside of the figure described by the polygon, and it allows you to activate alarms when the user is near the limits of the fenced area. The full edition doesn’t have any limitations.
To be able to develop these apps I used Android Studio with Kotlin’s plugin. The development was really faster y smooth than with other languages for Android, plus all the advantages that come from Functional Programming Languages, making your development experience more motivating and relaxing.
How many of you enjoy the term “tail recursion”? It’s like going into a traditional cafeteria and ask for a “mochaccino”, even though the tail recursion has been here since the days of Lisp and Haskell.
How about “pattern-matching” and “functional thread-safety”? These are some of the advantages of using a Functional Programming Language.
I think the world is going to make a leap of paradigm eventually, and staying in Java can be tough when that change happens. Java might be able to turn into COBOL… yuk!
It’s definitely the time to start giving 5th Generation Languages a chance, a try, and an APP.
Cheers!
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