Competing for the Crown: A Friendly Debate on the Future of Java and Kotlin on Foojay.io Today

Java and Kotlin are two of the most popular programming languages on the Java Virtual Machine. But both languages have pros and cons, and developers often have to choose between them based on the needs of their project, the people on their team, and their own preferences.

Recently, a conversation took place in Foojay's Slack channel, where participants discussed the comparison of Java and Kotlin. Foojay.io is a central place for the Java community to get daily information.

It is also a place for people who like OpenJDK, as well as a platform for the Java ecosystem as a whole.

Foojay.io brings together Java professionals from all over the world and helps them by giving them a place to talk, share information, and work together.

The Debate

• The conversation started with one participant, Bazlur (me), expressing his intention to write a series comparing Java and Kotlin to share the superiority of Java. However, another participant, Nicolas, challenged his claims and advised him to learn Kotlin well before making any comparisons. Nicolas's advice is essential because developers need to understand and learn a language before they can make claims or comparisons. Learning a new programming language can take time, effort, and dedication, but it is worth the investment.
• The conversation then turned into a friendly debate, with some people pointing out the benefits of Java, such as being easy to use, consistent, well-developed ecosystems, and better tools. Java is a language that has been around for over two decades and has a large and mature ecosystem. As a result, developers can find libraries, frameworks, and tools for almost any use case. Java's consistency and simplicity can also be an advantage for some developers, as there is generally only one way to do things.
• On the other hand, other participants emphasized Kotlin's superiority in features and expressiveness. Kotlin is a relatively new language that has gained popularity in recent years. JetBrains, the company behind the popular IntelliJ IDEA IDE, developed it. Kotlin's concise and expressive syntax makes it easy to read and write. It also supports many modern language features such as lambdas, coroutines, and extension functions.
• The conversation also touched on topics such as performance, garbage collection, and low-level development. Some participants argued that Java performs better. Others pointed out that Kotlin can do almost everything Java can, plus tons more. Nicolas pointed out that every Java library can be a Kotlin library, and Kotlin has a growing and helpful community.
• The conversation also brought up how important it is to understand low-level development and how garbage collection works. Low-level development is a term used to describe the process of programming at a lower level, closer to the hardware. Garbage collection is the automatic memory management process that helps prevent memory leaks and other memory-related issues. Some developers prefer low-level development because it gives them more control over the hardware, while others prefer automatic garbage collection because it simplifies memory management.
• Despite the differing opinions, the participants agreed that competition between Java and Kotlin is healthy and that each language can learn from the other. Java and Kotlin have many similarities, and Java can learn from Kotlin's modern language features, while Kotlin can learn from Java's mature ecosystem and tooling. The conversation also acknowledged that recent Java language enhancements might only have happened because Kotlin first made those ideas prevalent in the JVM.

In conclusion, the choice between Java and Kotlin depends on various factors, including the project's requirements, team composition, and personal preferences.

Both languages have their strengths and weaknesses, and developers should choose the language that best fits their needs.

The conversation comparing Java and Kotlin shows developers must learn and understand a language well before making comparisons or claims.

Competition between languages is healthy and can help drive innovation and improvement.

The Platform

Finally, developers interested in joining similar discussions can join Foojay's Slack channel. Foojay is a community platform for the Java ecosystem. It brings together Java professionals worldwide and helps them by giving them a place to talk, share information, and work together.

Foojay.io is an excellent resource for developers looking to keep up with the latest trends and news in the Java ecosystem. The community platform includes a Slack channel that provides a welcoming environment for developers to share their thoughts, ask questions, and learn from others.

It's also an excellent opportunity to network with other developers in the community, which can lead to new job opportunities, partnerships, and projects.

Foojay also provides daily news updates, blog posts, and tutorials covering various topics, including Java, OpenJDK, Jakarta EE, and more. It is an excellent resource for developers looking to stay informed.

Join us on Foojay today!