Java in Android application development

16. Januar 2025

Mobile application development has become essential in a world where smartphones and tablets play a central role in people's lives. Among the various mobile operating systems available, Android is the most widely used, with a global market share exceeding 70%. The Android platform is known for its flexibility, global reach, and support for a wide range of devices.

Application development for Android has been closely linked to Java, which offers features such as portability, performance and security. When Android was launched by Google in 2008, Java was chosen as its main development language, thanks to its compatibility with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and programmers' familiarity with the language.

Over time, Java has proven to be a solid and reliable choice for building Android applications of all sizes and types, enabling projects to be scalable and high-performance. The importance of Java in the Android landscape has also been driven by its ongoing support from Google and its interoperability with other emerging technologies, such as Kotlin.

Java VS Kotlin in Android development

In recent years, the competition between Java and Kotlin has gained momentum in Android development, as both languages become increasingly popular. Java is a reliable and familiar choice for many programmers, especially those with experience in enterprise projects or large-scale applications. On the other hand, Kotlin has distinguished itself due to its innovations and modern syntax.

Kotlin is a modern programming language developed by JetBrains, designed to be fully interoperable with Java and compiled for the JVM. Its main goal is to optimize application development, featuring a concise, safe, and productive syntax, eliminating many of the complexities of Java.

A significant advantage of Kotlin is its interoperability with Java, meaning that both languages can coexist within the same project. In practice, this facilitates the gradual adoption of Kotlin, allowing teams to introduce the language in specific parts of existing Java code without the need to rewrite the entire application. This factor is particularly relevant for large companies, where maintaining Android applications is essential.

Even with the increasing use of Kotlin, Java remains a viable choice for Android application development. Among its main advantages are stability and the abundance of existing libraries and frameworks. Additionally, many large-scale Android applications were originally built in Java and require maintenance, as in many cases, it's not worth rewriting the project.

On the other hand, Kotlin offers more modern features, such as support for functional programming, coroutines to facilitate asynchronous programming and simpler integration with current libraries. Google’s decision to adopt Kotlin as the official language for Android application development has further boosted the language's popularity. New APIs and features are often optimized for Kotlin and the Android community is committed to promoting the continuity of the language.

Although Kotlin has earned its place, Java continues to be a fundamental part of the Android ecosystem, as many companies choose to keep their projects in Java due to its long-standing reliability. The real strength of Android development today lies in the coexistence of both languages, where developers can choose the most suitable one according to their needs.

Benefits of Java for Android applications

Java is one of the oldest and most widely used programming languages in the world, and its longevity and adoption have ensured an extremely stable and reliable environment. These features are especially important for large applications, where long-term reliability and ease of maintenance are key.

Another great advantage Java offers is its compatibility with various versions of Android, allowing projects to run on new or older devices. The JVM also provides portability across different architectures.

Since Java is widely used for building enterprise applications, Android projects using Java can natively and efficiently integrate with other applications written in the same language, facilitating communication between the mobile application and corporate systems. For companies that already have a Java infrastructure, using it in the development of their mobile applications can represent a significant advantage in terms of integration and maintenance.

Finally, it is always important to mention the large support community behind Java. This global community of programmers offers support through forums, tutorials, videos, and open-source libraries, making it easy to learn and stay updated on best practices for efficient development.

Java tools and frameworks for Android

The standard development environment for Android applications is Android Studio, which provides full support for Java development. Additionally, Gradle is the most commonly used build tool to automate the compilation process and manage dependencies. Other popular frameworks that integrate well with Java in Android application development are Retrofit, for working with REST APIs, and Dagger, for dependency injection. These frameworks help simplify common tasks and structure code efficiently.

Challenges and trends for the future

In recent years, the development of Kotlin as a language for Android development has been a significant challenge for Java. Google actively promotes the use of Kotlin and much of the documentation and new APIs are designed with Kotlin's syntax and features in mind. As a consequence, we may be seeing a migration of some programmers, who previously used Java to Kotlin, especially in new projects.

Despite this, Java continues to evolve. With the Java 21 update, a number of significant improvements have been developed for the language, many of which could directly impact Android application development, as well as enable new features for memory optimization and parallel processing.

Looking to the future, the main question lies in Java's ability to adapt to the needs of modern development. The development of new features, such as those enabled by the Java 21 update and the continuous improvement of the JVM are important steps to keep the language relevant and competitive. However, its greatest asset lies in its stability, scalability and the vast codebase that still relies heavily on the language.