Kotlin or Java? Do you need to be programmer for reskin?

I have many questions about Kotlin vs Java.

When you want to reskin Android applications, you need some coding basics knowledge to learn. Usualy it's variable, methods, classes, project structure, if/else conditions, etc.

Google is pushing new programming language as official one, but in my opinion, Java is still the king and you should avoid Kotlin programming without Java skills.

Java:
+99% libraries you can find on Github, are in Java, yes, you can import Java code and connect with Kotlin code, but you need to learn both technologies
+99,9% ready to reskin apps from Codecanyon, Chupamobile, Sellmyapp, Github are made in Java
+documentation, just write "how to make button android stackoverflow" in Google and you have thousands of resources to copy and adjust to your needs
+if you need custom development, you will find developer ASAP on freelancer or udemy
-longer code, old school programming

Kotlin:
+shorter code
+more modern
-you need to know Java, to understand Kotlin, without Java you cannot make apps from scratch for Android and it's also harder to reskin apps
-the code syntax is just weird for people, who programmed with C/C++/C#/Java, Python or PHP, it's just different and you need time to get used to
-to learn Kotlin you need strong programming basics


Summary
Java will work for many, many years and you will use it without problems.


Do you need programming knowledge for reskin? Yes and not!
Reskining is just changing ready to use application template, what can be bought from many services or downloaded from Github for free. Mostly what you need to change is:
-colors
-texts
-elements positions (drag&drop)
-java code:
(methods, variables, classes names by simply rename/refactor)

but to understand it, you good to build one/few apps from tutorials. You need to understand project structure, where to change and how to change.

You don't need to become a programmer but smart guy, who knows how to change things.

Google promoting Kotlin while their apps are developed in Java.

Java today, Kotlin in 5 years.

Google is pushing for Kotlin so hard because they want to dethrone Oracle.

It's because of the battle between Google and Oracle. In past, oracle has claimed that Android has used some part of Java libraries that only comes under a license, but google claims otherwise. This has happened many times and cases are going on in Court. So to avoid this in future google is moving to Kotlin because Kotlin is designed to inter-operate fully with Java and that's why it lets programmer choose a language they are comfortable in development of apps. But in near future when everyone is familiar with Kotlin, you will see it everywhere.

That was helpful, thank you

Intruder said:

It's because of the battle between Google and Oracle. In past, oracle has claimed that Android has used some part of Java libraries that only comes under a license, but google claims otherwise. This has happened many times and cases are going on in Court. So to avoid this in future google is moving to Kotlin because Kotlin is designed to inter-operate fully with Java and that's why it lets programmer choose a language they are comfortable in development of apps. But in near future when everyone is familiar with Kotlin, you will see it everywhere.

Click to expand...

Not so near, I think 3-5 years. For now you cannot jump into Android+Kotlin without Java skills
So it's better for any newbies to stick to Java.

vinku said:

Not so near, I think 3-5 years. For now you cannot jump into Android+Kotlin without Java skills
So it's better for any newbies to stick to Java.

Click to expand...

Yes there is learning curb to Kotlin! But if you sole purpose is to reskin or learn Android development then they can take up some courses and get hang of it. Otherwise, I recommend learning Java as that opens a lot more doors in future for anyone who is interested in Programming.
As a Java developer myself, I have checked Kotlin for an hours and quickly realized how easy it will be for someone who already knows java. So yes your point holds true!

Intruder said:

Yes there is learning curb to Kotlin! But if you sole purpose is to reskin or learn Android development then they can take up some courses and get hang of it. Otherwise, I recommend learning Java as that opens a lot more doors in future for anyone who is interested in Programming.
As a Java developer myself, I have checked Kotlin for an hours and quickly realized how easy it will be for someone who already knows java. So yes your point holds true!

Click to expand...

I have different point of view. I configured Kotlin after some Android Studio integration issues, looked at syntax and closed Kotlin project with "WTF".
I prefer to learn swift and try some iOS now, than making Kotlin apps. Swift is more c# like, more familiar syntax to whole C/C++/C#/Java family than Kotlin.

I wish I can learn Java, Just a dream.

Nut-Nights said:

I wish I can learn Java, Just a dream.

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For reskining you don't need to learn Java for corpo level

If you want to work 9-17, then yes

vinku said:

I have different point of view. I configured Kotlin after some Android Studio integration issues, looked at syntax and closed Kotlin project with "WTF".
I prefer to learn swift and try some iOS now, than making Kotlin apps. Swift is more c# like, more familiar syntax to whole C/C++/C#/Java family than Kotlin.

Click to expand...

I see... But as per me and my friends it is easy for Java developer to get hang of kotlin. Kotlin has less boiler plate code and it is difficult if you don't know kotlin and dive directly into editing. You won't understand a thing there, but if you have played around a bit and coded one or two apps, even the easiest one in kotlin, you'll understand it. I suggest the same for you mate!

vinku said:

-you need to know Java, to understand Kotlin, without Java you cannot make apps from scratch for Android and it's also harder to reskin apps
-the code syntax is just weird for people, who programmed with C/C++/C#/Java, Python or PHP, it's just different and you need time to get used to
-to learn Kotlin you need strong programming basics

Click to expand...

I have taken a look at their documentation. Doesn't seem weird to me. In-fact, it feels better than java lol. Yeah, but don't take my words. I haven't tried to do anything practical using Kotlin yet.

Nut-Nights said:

I wish I can learn Java, Just a dream.

Click to expand...

Not that hard man. Just dive into it. Setting up can be a pain, but once you are good to go; it will be much better than what you are thinking.

That was helpful

Java is love

vinku said:

For reskining you don't need to learn Java for corpo level

If you want to work 9-17, then yes

Click to expand...

To create good simple apps with simple functioning, should I learn Java or Not?

You are contradicting yourself. I know PHP enough to edit and work on my websites, and Python enough to build my crawlers, automate tasks, scrape data ..etc

I like to be in control of everything I do, so even if I hire professional programmer for big apps, I should be able to read, understand and edit the code.

I have tried to learn Java in the past, but Object Oriented Programming really pushed me off. Too complicated for what I want to do.

I am more like what you say, Learn enough for my business which is not programming. In this case, how should I persume this ?

this is very informative , i am personally learning puthon and want to learn about android . But have thought around kotlin and java . This short but clearly written information helped me and going to learn jaava in future

java a server programming lanuage
javascript a scripting lanuage .

what one are you all talking about?

Java is not a server programming language but that is the one we are talking about

Thank you very much @vinku. I really appreciate your time for creating many useful posts.

Google already had this language Go, why would they create yet another one?