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Google today announced a small but important update to how Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange can work together going forward. It’s not unusual for a company to still use both Google’s G Suite tools and Microsoft Exchange in parallel, and with this update, G Suite admins can now allow their users to see real-time free/busy information across the two systems. This means tools… Read More
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With Android officially adopting Kotlin as a supported language, there’s one question that every new Android developer should be asking themselves: should I be learning Kotlin or Java?
Rather than burying the answer all the way at the bottom… in my mind, it’s definitely Kotlin.
Kotlin was introduced in 2011 by JetBrains (maker of IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and many other top IDEs) who at the time were using almost entirely Java. They created Kotlin because, “First and foremost, it’s about our own productivity”.
So Kotlin was created explicitly to be better than Java, but JetBrains wasn’t about to rewrite their IDEs from scratch in a new language. Which is why they made Kotlin 100% interoperable with Java. Kotlin runs on the JVM and compiles down to Java bytecode; you can start tinkering with Kotlin in an existing Java or Android project and everything will work just fine.
That said, there aren’t yet many Android tutorials using Kotlin; most beginner stuff is in Java along with the Android docs (though we’re working on our first beginner-focused Kotlin for Android course, and it should be out before too long). So to figure out how the Android system works and what it looks like behind the scenes, you’ll have to spend some time with Java.
Now let’s get back to that productivity part. There are plenty of articles out there showcasing what Kotlin can do, and there’s even a really good Java/Kotlin comparison on the Kotlin website (which has excellent documentation). So rather than creating an exhaustive list of what makes Kotlin so awesome, I’m going to show you my favorite example of Kotlin superiority which I borrow from our Kotlin for Java Developers course.
Let’s say we need a class to represent the state of a playing card. It would need 3 properties: the value of the card, the suit of the card, and whether or not the card is face up. Also, since we usually deal cards face down the ‘faceUp’ property will typically be false, so we shouldn’t need to specify it every time.
Here’s what that looks like in Java. We need three fields as well as associated getters/setters, along with two constructors.
| public class Card { | |
| private int value; | |
| private String suit; | |
| private boolean faceUp; | |
| public Card(int value, String suit) { | |
| this.value = value; | |
| this.suit = suit; | |
| this.faceUp = false; | |
| } | |
| public Card(int value, String suit, boolean faceUp) { | |
| this.value = value; | |
| this.suit = suit; | |
| this.faceUp = faceUp; | |
| } | |
| public int getValue() { | |
| return value; | |
| } | |
| public String getSuit() { | |
| return suit; | |
| } | |
| public boolean isFaceUp() { | |
| return faceUp; | |
| } | |
| public void setFaceUp(boolean faceUp) { | |
| this.faceUp = faceUp; | |
| } | |
| } |
Here’s what it looks like in Kotlin:
class Card(val value: Int, val suit: String, var faceUp: Boolean = false)
33 lines down to 1! Not bad, right? But it gets better. In Java (and Kotlin), if you try to print out an object, instead of seeing the properties of the object you see the object reference:
| Card card1 = new Card(4, "DIAMONDS"); | |
| Card card2 = new Card(4, "DIAMONDS"); | |
| println(card1); // com.teamtreehouse.solitaire.Card@25eb7f4 | |
| println(card2); // com.teamtreehouse.solitaire.Card@918db1d |
And if you try to compare these two cards, you’ll end up comparing object references, and it’ll be false:
println(card1 == card2); // false println(card1.equals(card2)); // false
In Java, if you want to test for equality between objects you need to override the ‘equals’ method:
| @Override | |
| public boolean equals(Object object) { | |
| if (object instanceof Card) { | |
| Card card = (Card) object; | |
| return this.value == card.value | |
| && this.suit.equals(card.suit) | |
| && this.faceUp == card.faceUp; | |
| } else { | |
| return false; | |
| } | |
| } |
And if you want to see something useful when you print the object, you need to override the ‘toString’ method:
| @Override | |
| public String toString() { | |
| return "Card(value="+value+", suit="+suit+", faceUp="+faceUp+")"; | |
| } |
But in Kotlin, all you have to do is add the word ‘data’ in front of your class:
data class Card(val value: Int, val suit: String, var faceUp: Boolean = false)
Here it is in action:
| val card1 = Card(4, "DIAMONDS") | |
| val card2 = Card(4, "DIAMONDS") | |
| println(card1) // Card(value=4, suit=DIAMONDS, faceUp=false) | |
| println(card1 == card2) // true |
We’ve now got 51 lines of Java, and still just 1 line of Kotlin!
In summary, learn Kotlin. But if you’re completely new to programming, start with Java first. Most Android code is still written in Java, and at the least, understanding Java will be a boon for understanding the docs. Once you’ve got the basics of Java, you’ll be able to pick up Kotlin that much faster and will have a greater appreciation for the benefits that Kotlin brings. On the other hand, if you’re an experienced developer check out our Kotlin for Java Developers course. It teaches you everything you need to know about Kotlin by building a headless solitaire app!
Ps. If you’re looking for a list of reasons Kotlin is better than Java, Magnus Vinther does a great job of breaking it down in this medium post.
The post Should I Learn Kotlin or Java? appeared first on Treehouse Blog.
The classic hub-and-spoke WAN system has been a popular networking solution for decades. It offers offers strong security, as each device is isolated from the others, and permits close monitoring of traffic for potential security breaches. It is also affordable, …
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This post Vulnerability vs. Exploitability: Why they’re different & why it matters appeared first on CloudTweaks Connected CloudTweaks.
Phishers hacked an extension for Google Chrome and abused their ill-gotten access to push out spam to unsuspecting users. The security incident befell Copyfish, a type of software which allows users to extract text from images, video, and/or PDF documents. Only the program’s Chrome extension suffered as a result of the attack. It’s Firefox counterpart […]… Read More
The post Phishers Hack Chrome Extension to Push Out Spam appeared first on The State of Security.
The well known New York Times columnist, best selling author and pundit Thomas Friedman wrote a very bullish article on gig work last week.
Self-Driving People, Enabled by Airbnb focused on the gig work being created by Airbnb's "Experiences" platform.
To see what’s growing, go to Airbnb’s site and click not on “homes” but on “experiences.”
You’ll find an endless smorgasbord of people turning their passion into profit and their inner artisan into second careers.
According to Airbnb, Experiences is a platform that connects travelers with "handcrafted activities" developed by "local experts".
They range from mushroom foraging in Tuscany to hiking to the Hollywood sign with a naturalist to doing yoga on a paddle board.
The providers of the experiences are independent workers who, according to Airbnb, "create unique experiences around your city, and earn extra money by bringing others along."
The point about "extra money" makes it clear that Airbnb sees this a source of supplemental income, not a full-time job.
Friedman points out that tour guiding will likely not solve the middle class jobs problem. But he thinks it is part of the solution.
Again from the article:
"Is this the only answer for the American middle-class jobs challenge? Of course not. There is no one answer. That’s the point.
We have to do 50 things right to recreate that broad middle class of the ’50s and ’60s, and platforms like Airbnb’s are just one of them. (Having universal health care to create a safety net under all of these budding entrepreneurs would be another.) But you have to be inspired by how many people are now finding joy and income by mining their passions."
The mainstream media has not, on average, been thrilled about the rise of the gig economy. In fact, mostly it's been quite hostile.
So it's good to see someone as influential as Thomas Friedman be supportive.
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The post 12 Indispensable DevOps Tools for 2017 appeared first on The State of Security.
In an unsurprising move by credit card thieves police have found a new credit card skimmer that sends stolen data via SMS. By tearing apart cheap phones, crooks are able to send credit card information to their location instantly without having to access the skimmer physically or rely on an open Bluetooth connection. Brian Krebs received images of the skimmer from an unnamed source. They… Read More
