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  5. Kotlin vs R

Kotlin vs R

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

R Language
R Language
Stacks3.9K
Followers1.9K
Votes418
Kotlin
Kotlin
Stacks17.7K
Followers11.9K
Votes650
GitHub Stars51.5K
Forks6.1K

Kotlin vs R: What are the differences?

  1. Syntax and Language Design: Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), while R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Kotlin's syntax is more concise and less verbose compared to R, making it easier to read and write code.
  2. Primary Use Cases: Kotlin is mainly used for developing Android applications, server-side applications, and web applications, while R is primarily used for statistical analysis, data manipulation, and graphical representation of data. Each language is tailored to meet specific needs in different domains.
  3. Type System: Kotlin has a strong and static type system, providing compile-time type checking and avoiding null pointer exceptions, whereas R is dynamically typed, making it more flexible but potentially leading to runtime errors if not handled properly.
  4. Support for Functional Programming: Kotlin has built-in support for functional programming concepts like lambdas, higher-order functions, and immutability, allowing developers to write concise and expressive code. In contrast, while R supports functional programming to some extent, its primary focus is on data analysis and manipulation.
  5. Tooling and Ecosystem: Kotlin has strong tooling support with features like robust IDE integration, seamless interoperability with Java, and a growing ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. On the other hand, R has a rich ecosystem of packages for statistical computing and graphics, but it may lack some of the advanced tooling features found in languages like Kotlin.
  6. Performance and Scalability: Kotlin is known for its performance optimization capabilities and scalability, making it suitable for building large-scale applications with high performance requirements. In comparison, R may face limitations in terms of scalability and performance when dealing with big data processing or complex computational tasks.

In Summary, Kotlin and R differ in terms of syntax, primary use cases, type system, support for functional programming, tooling and ecosystem, and performance and scalability, catering to distinct development needs in various domains.

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Advice on R Language, Kotlin

Nick
Nick

Building cool things on the internet 🛠️ at Stream

Sep 5, 2019

Review

I work at Stream and I'm immensely proud of what our team is working on here at the company. Most recently, we announced our Android SDK accompanied by an extensive tutorial for Java and Kotlin. The tutorial covers just about everything you need to know when it comes to using our Android SDK for Stream Chat. The Android SDK touches many features offered by Stream Chat – more specifically, typing status, read state, file uploads, threads, reactions, editing messages, and commands. Head over to https://getstream.io/tutorials/android-chat/ and give it a whirl!

176k views176k
Comments
Zuriel
Zuriel

Jun 7, 2020

Needs advice

Can anyone help me decide what's best for app development or even android Oreo development? I'm in a state dilemma at the moment. I want to do Android programming, not necessarily web development. I have heard a lot of people recommend one of these, and it seems that both the tools can do the job. Which language would you choose?

291k views291k
Comments
Liviu Florin
Liviu Florin

Principal Software Engineer at Dell Technologies

Dec 11, 2020

Review

Hi, Well...It depends. Take this with a grain of salt as I'm not a mobile app developer. I would weigh in some factors. If I would want to go fast, maybe I would make an Android app and use the language that I know, Java or even Kotlin. It really depends on how much time do you have. Alternatives to Flutter you can find here: https://buildfire.com/programming-languages-for-mobile-app-development/. As you already went with Firebase it might be a good option to stick with Flutter as they are both Google products and their integration might work more smoothly.
I would also take into account the job market in your area and your personal preference in order to raise your chances to find a good job after you graduate and use your project as actual work experience. I guess it would help to put in some specs related to what you are trying to build, as some frameworks are better suited to do one job, rather than others and hopefully get more specific answers.

1.14k views1.14k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

R Language
R Language
Kotlin
Kotlin

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, ...) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible.

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language for the JVM, Android and the browser, 100% interoperable with Java

Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
51.5K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
6.1K
Stacks
3.9K
Stacks
17.7K
Followers
1.9K
Followers
11.9K
Votes
418
Votes
650
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 86
    Data analysis
  • 64
    Graphics and data visualization
  • 55
    Free
  • 45
    Great community
  • 38
    Flexible statistical analysis toolkit
Cons
  • 6
    Very messy syntax
  • 4
    Tables must fit in RAM
  • 3
    Arrays indices start with 1
  • 2
    Messy syntax for string concatenation
  • 2
    No push command for vectors/lists
Pros
  • 73
    Interoperable with Java
  • 55
    Functional Programming support
  • 51
    Null Safety
  • 46
    Official Android support
  • 44
    Backed by JetBrains
Cons
  • 7
    Java interop makes users write Java in Kotlin
  • 4
    Frequent use of {} keys
  • 2
    Hard to make teams adopt the Kotlin style
  • 2
    Nonullpointer Exception
  • 1
    No boiler plate code

What are some alternatives to R Language, Kotlin?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

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