This post is an introduction to Kotlin for Android development. Learn how the language differs from Java and the basic syntax and layout.

Although you can run Android's Gradle with very little (if any) manual configuration, Gradle has much more to offer than what’s available out-of-the-box!

Kotlin offers big advantages over Java for JVM and Android development, and plays nicely with Java in the same projects.

And despite all of the focus on Kotlin, it’s worth noting that the core of the Android platform and its APIs are still built on Java.

Kotlin is a super new programming language built by JetBrains, which also coincidentally develops the JetBrains IDE that Android Studio — Google’s official developer tool — is based on.