Embracing Kotlin: A New Choice from Mobile to Backend
In early 2020, beyond exploring the future of iOS with SwiftUI, I also turned my attention to Kotlin. As the Android development language officially recommended by Google, Kotlin had already made a name for itself in the Android world thanks to its modern, concise, and safe design. But my goals went further than that — I also wanted to explore its potential in backend development.
Why Kotlin?
What drew me to Kotlin was how it brings the best of everything together:
- 100% Java interoperability: It interoperates seamlessly with existing Java code and libraries. For a company whose primary backend language is Java, the migration and learning costs are extremely low.
- Modern language features: It incorporates many of the best features of modern programming languages, such as Null Safety, Extension Functions, Data Classes and Coroutines, which can significantly improve code robustness and development efficiency.
- Concise syntax: Compared with Java,
Kotlin's syntax is more concise, achieving the same functionality with less code and making the code more expressive.
From Native Development to Backend Practice
My learning path started with the Kotlin native development environment, which helped me quickly grasp its core syntax and features. After that, I began trying out Kotlin in the company's backend projects.
In 2020, several backend projects I took part in, including the BaaS service and the Monitor monitoring system, were partly developed with Kotlin. It pairs very smoothly with the Spring Boot framework, and its concise syntax makes the code logic clearer. In particular, when handling data transfer objects (DTOs), data class greatly reduces boilerplate code.
Learning Kotlin not only gave me command of a new mobile development language; more importantly, it added a powerful tool to my backend development toolbox, giving me a more elegant and efficient option when facing complex business logic.