It is still another syntax, with idioms moving away from JVM, their own little islands of Kontlin only libraries, and only works on InteliJ/Android Studio.
I don't see any value in Kotlin outside Android shops.
While true it has it's own syntax, the syntax is better than Java and more ergonomic. With that said, you can write Java in Kotlin - and by that I mean Kotlin code that looks almost exactly like Java. Heck, you can have .java and .kt source within the same project all mixed together if you want.
Kotlin libraries are interoperable with Java and vice versa. In some specific cases, a Kotlin library needs a little syntactic sugar to make it work with Java like a Java developer would expect, but it's easy to do. Going the other direction though - Java library used in Kotlin, zero issues, it just works. Some Java developers don't even realize they're already using Kotlin - take a look at OKHttp and friends...
Lastly, there's Kotlin support is all major IDE's, including IntelliJ of course, but also Eclipse and likely whatever editor/ide you prefer. Kotlin is basically just a bunch of libs.
I would argue Kotlin is better outside of Android than in Android. For backend work, particularly when coupled with Spring/Boot, it's freaking amazing. The Spring team has put in an impressive amount of work to make Kotlin a first-class language within the ecosystem, and it really shows.
Telling me there is Kotlin support in Eclipse only tells me you never actually tried it, specially after JetBrains ramped down the team that was doing the now stale plugin.
You should look harder before saying it doesn't work. Updated 10/6/2023[1]
Coroutines are a specific paradigm within Kotlin, and should not be in library code anyway. With the addition of JVM Virtual Threads, the need for Coroutines is significantly diminished anyway.
It's anecdata, yes, but I've written a lot of Kotlin code and do not use coroutines. Kotlin really just lets you do what you want - as much or as little idomatic code as you need.
Kotlin on the backend is amazing. You really should give it a try. Java sucks badly, in comparison (I say that as a former Java nerd...)
After installation of the Kotlin plugin the Java plugin is not running anymore. I cannot open a Java project anymore.
The log file says:
!MESSAGE org/eclipse/jdt/internal/ui/refactoring/actions/RenameJavaElementAction$AjcClosure1
!STACK 0
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/eclipse/jdt/internal/ui/refactoring/actions/RenameJavaElementAction$AjcClosure1
at org.eclipse.jdt.ui.actions.RenameAction.<init>(RenameAction.java:60)
at org.eclipse.jdt.ui.actions.RefactorActionGroup.<init>(RefactorActionGroup.java:372)
at org.eclipse.jdt.ui.actions.RefactorActionGroup.<init>(RefactorActionGroup.java:206)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.packageview.PackageExplorerActionGroup.<init>(PackageExplorerActionGroup.java:139)
at ...
I've worked in several JVM backend projects, and Kotlin has been a stark improvement over Java (at least up through version 17, the most recent with which I've worked directly). Compose, and Compose UI, are tremendously promising technologies; I've shipped desktop apps with Kotlin for multiple platforms, and compared to just about every other desktop UI framework, it's a clear winner in terms of productivity and an ability to GSD.
All that to say, I believe that Kotlin has a lot of value, independently of Android.
> I don't see any value in Kotlin outside Android shops.
Developer experience is important to some people - not just devs, but those who seek to recruit and retain good ones.
Of course, if you're looking to hire massive numbers of butts-in-seats (gov work, large enterprise shops, etc) I suppose Java is probably the ideal choice.
There is a difference between supporting a language with a Notepad++ like experience, and what JetBrains was doing before ramping down the Eclipse plugin team, as means to sell more InteliJ licenses instead.
I don't see any value in Kotlin outside Android shops.