For the first time since the Android operating system was introduced, developers now have an alternative to writing apps in Java code. Kotlin is a programming language developed by JetBrains, the company that created the development environment on which Android Studio is based. Kotlin is intended to make code safer and easier to understand and write. Kotlin is also highly compatible with Java, allowing Java and Kotlin code to co-exist within the same projects. This interoperability ensures that most of the standard Java and Java-based Android libraries and frameworks are available for use when developing using Kotlin.
Kotlin support for Android Studio is provided via a plug-in bundled with Android Studio 3.0 or later. This plug-in also provides a converter to translate Java code to Kotlin.
When learning Kotlin, the online playground provides a useful environment for quickly trying out Kotlin code.
