Essential Languages for Android Developers

Android devices are still more popular than Apple products around the world, despite Apple getting most of the attention and praise in the United States and other Western economies. Many firms, like Samsung, LG, Huawei, and Google, are making successful Android-powered smartphones. This is all thanks to Android’s flexible and adaptable software. Because of this, and the continued need for reliable Android OS alternatives, Android developers are in high demand all across the globe.

Android smartphones, in contrast to Apple’s, which relies mostly on iOS for development and provides a more limited selection of devices, provide a considerably broader range of hardware prospects and rivals. In addition, the diversity of Android’s hardware manufacturers necessitates that developers have strong technical skills and fluency in several programming languages. Android programmers have a wider variety of languages to choose from when picking out coding schools or learning their first programming language than do Apple programmers, who can typically dig deep into Swift to begin their careers.

Exactly what should the first language an Android programmer study be? Which languages provide the lowest barrier to entry, the most scalability and versatility, and the most return on investment for those seeking to make a career as an Android developer? If you want to become an Android developer, you should know these three languages and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Java

Java, arguably the most popular language in use today, is also the language of choice for creating Android apps. As of right now, this language was used to develop the vast majority of the apps available in the Google Play Store. Even though the Java programming language has been around since long before smartphones were commonplace, one of the main reasons for this is because Google supports it. This made it an obvious choice for early Android developers. When compared to lesser-known programming languages, Java has a big advantage because to its large and active global developer community, which has created a vast resource of tools, plugins, resources, and support networks.

It’s important to note that Java is not the simplest language for novice programmers to pick up, and that in order to build sophisticated mobile apps and successfully navigate the app development process, you’ll need a good deal of prior experience dealing with and creating code in Java. In contrast to more accessible programming languages like Python or Ruby, Java’s constructors, null pointer exceptions, concurrency, and checked exceptions can be intimidating to a newcomer. Additional complexity in learning and utilizing the language is introduced by the Android Software Development Kit (SDK).

While the learning curve for Java is higher than for other programming languages, the rewards are worth it: once you’ve mastered it, you can create beautiful, user-friendly apps that can stand up to anything in the Google Play store. Furthermore, Java has many other applications besides mobile programming, so you can switch gears later in your career if you get bored with mobile development.

Kotlin

Kotlin, the programming language chosen by Google to replace Java, has quickly gained significant traction in the Android development community. Kotlin is a relatively new programming language that was chosen as the official Android language by Google in 2019. Its simplicity, efficiency, and cross-compatibility with Java make it an appealing alternative for developers of all experience levels. Kotlin, like any language built for a specific purpose, provides improvements and fixes that make it more suitable for tackling the coding challenges and problems that Java developers have long experienced while building code for Android apps.

Kotlin is intended as a Java replacement due to its more streamlined syntax, cleaner code, and more up-to-date capabilities. Java, on the other hand, is faster, more mature, and more secure, and it also allows programmers to write shorter scripts. Kotlin is better suited to those who want to specialize in the Android niche, or who will have the time to study multiple languages later in their careers, because it has limited uses outside of the Android development area.

C++/C#

C# and C++ are both variants of the C base language that share several major traits, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to Android programming.

C++ may be difficult to learn for novice programmers, but it’s a great choice for creating robust and feature-rich Android apps. C++ is widely used for the construction of OSes, gaming platforms, and 3D films, making it one of the most popular development languages in the world. Since C++ code runs directly on the smartphone, it offers superior performance to customers, making it an appealing choice for Android development. This strength, however, comes with a significant drawback in that it complicates development efforts. Although C++ offers a lot of useful features and is still one of the best tools for making Android games, learning it will take a lot of time and effort.

C#, meanwhile, integrates the greatest parts of Java and C++. Because of this connectivity, it may be used for a wide range of development projects, including games, complex Windows applications, and, more recently, Android apps. Since its inception in 2000 and subsequent release, this Microsoft-owned technology has amassed a sizable development community because to its low entry barrier and broad applicability. A number of enhancements, such as object-oriented programming, have been added to C# since earlier versions of the language. The flexibility and simplicity of Cunderlying #’s principles make it a good choice for inexperienced Android programmers.

Alternative Programming Languages for Android

Despite Android’s lack of native Python development support, Python may be utilized for Android development with the help of a number of tools that translate Python programs into Android packages. Python’s crisp and plain English-like syntax also makes it one of the quickest languages to learn for novice developers.
Corona is a software development kit (SDK) that enables the creation of Lua-based Android applications. Although Lua’s capabilities are limited in comparison to those of Java, the language is much easier to pick up and use. In addition, there are a number of assets and plugins available to further improve the process of creating an app.