I’ve been reading a lot of support growing for Kotlin, a language developed by Jet Brains. Kotlin is a statically typed language that compiles to run in many environments including using the JavaScript language and the Java Virtual Machine.
On thing that sets Kotlin apart from other languages is that it generates code that can be run based on other languages. It generates Java Code that can be run from the JVM. It also generates JavaScript code that is even more transportable. Like TypeScript, it uses the Kotlin syntax from the programmers perspective, which is later used to to generate JavaScript code.
I find this trend to be really powerful. Instead of writing a whole new run time engine like Java or Dot Net, they take advantage of an existing run time engine and tack on a whole new language with its own characteristics etc. Then, their compiler simply generates code native to the run type engine which may be interpreted by many different browsers or other tools.
In a real sense, this is no different than Java or Dot Net using their own run time engine, with the difference being that JavaScript probably has the most universal acceptance across platforms. There are definite difference between using Java over JavaScript, such as directly accessing system resources. But Kotlin can take advantage of either model, depending on your specific needs.
It’s difficult to compare Kotlin to other tools, because of the piggy back characteristics. It would be more like comparing Silverlight and C# to Kotlin, because it competes in both worlds. What I think will be interesting is if they make a Kotlin compiler to work with the Dot Net CLR? How about making it generate AS400 PCode to take advantage of the mid range runtime engine? Ok, now I’m getting carried away.
So, if you’re looking for something that is gaining traction in the programming language space you may want to go to the Jet Brains site and check out Kotlin.
Cheers,
Ben