I’m working on converting a huge codebase from Java to Kotlin.
I like Kotlin and would recommend it, but to answer the question:
- slower complication time
- more complicated language: this means code that’s harder to optimize, or that can be overly complex when written by junior developers or language aficionados. (This doesn’t have to happen, but it does in my experience)
- lack of libraries means you will use Java code, and Java and Kotlin code mixing is really well done, but will still expose you to many quirks. This will mean developers will need to know Java on top of Kotlin.
- less stable: things are changing faster in Kotlin, and you’re more likely to see breaking changes if you have a big codebase when the next version comes out.
- performance: in the same way C++ can be as fast as C code - Kotlin can be as safe as Java. In practice though, you will use more abstractions and you may want critical components to remain in Java. From my experience though, runtime performance is not an issue in practice for all examples I’ve seen tested.
I like Kotlin and would recommend it, but to answer the question:
- slower complication time
- more complicated language: this means code that’s harder to optimize, or that can be overly complex when written by junior developers or language aficionados. (This doesn’t have to happen, but it does in my experience)
- lack of libraries means you will use Java code, and Java and Kotlin code mixing is really well done, but will still expose you to many quirks. This will mean developers will need to know Java on top of Kotlin.
- less stable: things are changing faster in Kotlin, and you’re more likely to see breaking changes if you have a big codebase when the next version comes out.
- performance: in the same way C++ can be as fast as C code - Kotlin can be as safe as Java. In practice though, you will use more abstractions and you may want critical components to remain in Java. From my experience though, runtime performance is not an issue in practice for all examples I’ve seen tested.