Dart vs Kotlin: Top Differences

Choosing a programming language is always a difficult task for developers, especially when two languages are popular, widely used, and provide efficient tools and features. Kotlin and Dart are two popular candidates that developers can go for as both languages offer distinct sets of features and tools.

Kotlin is a modern programming language used mainly for Android app development along with back-end development and data analytics. On the Other side, Dart is also a modern programming language that allows developers to write iOS, Android, Desktop, and Web applications using a single codebase. In this article, we will delve into the Features, Advantages, and Differences between these two languages in detail. Let’s get started!

Unlock the full potential of Android development with Kotlin. Check out: Mastering Android Development with Kotlin From Beginner to Pro.

Dart Overview

What is Dart?

Dart is a widely used, modern Object-oriented programming language with powerful features and tools. Dart was developed by Google in the year 2011 to simplify complex web applications. Soon after it was used widely for multi-purpose languages including mobile applications, desktop applications, server-side programming, and more. Dart is backed by Google which makes it more trustworthy among the developers with its rich ecosystem and large community. Its type-safety and null safety features make it more powerful and efficient for application development.

Key Features

• Static typing and Optional typing Support: Dart supports Static and Dynamic typing, with Static typing data type of variables is known at compile time which eliminates runtime typing issues, While dynamic typing gives flexibility to check variable type at run time.
• Powerful Asynchronous mechanism: Dart has built-in support of Asynchronous operations through its await/async keyword. This feature enables the development of responsive and scalable applications by managing asynchronous operations easily and efficiently.
• Object-Oriented Programming principles support: Dart is an Object-Oriented Programming language, which means it sports core Object-Oriented pillars – Inheritance, Abstraction, Polymorphism, and Encapsulation. This helps in writing code in such a manner that it helps developers reuse and manage code more easily.
• Support of Flutter Framework: Flutter is a very popular open-source cross-platform that allows developers to build natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and even desktop from a single codebase. Flutter’s hot reload feature and its expressive syntax feature accelerate cross-platform application development with a single code base.
• Interoperability with JavaScript: Dart supports seamless interoperability with JavaScript which means it allows developers to use existing JavaScript libraries and Framworks. This interoperability enables the integration of Dart code with web apps and other JavaScript-based platforms.

Advantages of Dart Language

• Dart is backed by Googe, which benefits from a growing community and rich ecosystem that offers detailed tutorials and documents.
• It supports automatic memory management using a garbage collector that eliminates the need for developers to handle memory manually.
• Dart supports natively compiled applications with the use of Ahed-Of-time(AOT) compilation which enables high-performance mobile application development.

Kotlin Overview

What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a modern programming language developed by JetBrains, It was first introduced in 2011 as an alternative to Java, targeting the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Initially, Android was launched to be used as a plugin in Android Studio, but later in May 2017, Kotlin was declared as the official Android Development language. The goal behind introducing Kotlin was to address various lacking features in existing programming languages, particularly Java while maintaining seamless interoperability with Java. Kotlin is not limited to Android development but is also used in other software development domains, such as backend development, desktop application development, and data science and analytics.

Key Features

• Concise code and readability: Kotlin is well known for its concise syntax that helps developers reduce boilerplate code, which makes code very easy to understand and more readable.
• Null Safety Support: One of the powerful features of Kotlin which is widely used is its Null Safety feature, which distinguishes Nullable and non-Nullable types. This feature enables developers to prevent null pointer exceptions which is a very common issue in programming languages.
• Interoperable with Java language: Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java language, which allows developers to use existing Java libraries and frameworks seamlessly. This interoperability makes it easy to adopt Kotlin in projects with an existing Java code base.
• Large-scale audience adoption: Continue contributions of developers to its plugin and library making its community large and strong. Kotlin’s ecosystem has grown significantly in recent years.
• Coroutines support: Manage asynchronous tasks with Kotlin in a very easy and effective manner Kotlin comes up with the most powerful feature – Coroutines. Coroutine comes up with suspend functions that allow developers to pause and resume background processes.

Advantages of Kotlin Language

• With the use of extension functions, Kotlin allows developers to add new methods to existing classes without modifications in those classes.
• Apart from Android developers, back-end developers are also moving towards Kotlin due to its features like null safety and conciseness.
• Kotlin came up with Coroutines, which has made asynchronous programming more easy and readable compared to the traditional callback-based approach.

Dart V/S Kotlin Key Differences

Comparison Criteria	Dart	Kotlin
Syntax	Syntax is similar to C language which prioritizes simplicity and clarity.	Expressive and Concise syntax that reduces the boilerplate code compared to Java.
Background task	Offers asynchronous operations through async/await keywords that execute code block without blocking the main UI. Dart’s isolation supports the concurrent execution of tasks that provide parallel execution.	Offers coroutine, which are lightweight threads managed by Kotlin runtime. Kotlin’s concurrency model relies on underlying JVM for thread management which is higher compared to Dart.
Safety	Supports static and dynamic typing along with null safety features to eliminate runtime exceptions.	Built-in support of nullability that reduces the occurrence of Null Pointer Exceptions.
Performance	Offers high performance with DVM(Dart Virtual Machine).	Kotlin’s Performance is similar to Java as it compiles to bytecode that runs on the JVM.
Learning curve	Dart’s learning curve depends on the developer’s background, but developers familiar with the C programming style can easily adopt.	The syntax is similar to other modern programming languages, making it easy to learn for developers familiar with Java or similar languages.
Community and Ecosystem	It has a vibrant and active community with rich documentation and resources Ecosystem is significantly rising with rich libraries.	Kotlin is supported by JetBrains and Google which leverages a strong and growing community. It has a rich ecosystem with a large number of libraries, frameworks, and tools.

Use cases

Dart

• Cross-Platform Mobile App Development: Dart is widely used to develop cross-platform mobile app development that includes Android and iOS, with the use of the popular framework Flutter. Flutter allows developers to build high-performance Android and iOS applications with a single codebase. Dart’s hot-reload feature helps businesses with rapid development.
• Web Development: Dart is a good option for developing server-side and client-side web development. For client-side applications, developers can build web applications using framework such as Angular, while for server-side app development dart framework provides tools for building scalable applications.
• Server-side Development: Dart can be used for server-side development, mainly with the use of a framework like Aqueduct. The asynchronous and modern features of dart make it well-suitable for building back-end services and APIs that handle concurrent operations.

Kotlin

• Android Development: Being declared as the official Android Language, Android is the preferred programming language for Android Development offering modern features and concise syntax.
• General-Purpose programming: Apart from Android development Kotlin is also suitable for Enterprise software development, Web development, and Desktop applications.
• Data Science and Analysis: Kotlin’s functional programming capabilities and concise syntax make it well-suitable for data manipulation, and analysis. Kotlin libraries such as KotlinDL provide support for deep learning, while Kotlin notebooks facilitate interactive data exploration and experimentation.

Conclusion

Kotlin and Dart both are strong contenders with their unique and distinct features and capabilities. Kotlin is the perfect option for Android development because of its concise syntax and powerful performance, while Dart is the best choice for developing cross-platform development. Businesses can choose either of these languages based on their requirement, objectives, and the developers’ team available with them. Both languages offer various features and tools that enable developers to build high-performance web applications, desktop applications, and mobile applications.

FAQs on Dart vs Kotlin

Which one is a good choice for mobile application development, Kotlin or Dart?

For developing Android native applications, Kotlin is a perfect choice as it is the official Android language, while for developing cross-platform mobile applications Dart language is an ideal choice.

Which language offers better performance, Dart or Kotlin?.

Both languages provide efficient performance for different use cases, Dart’s performance is optimized through JIT(Just-In-Time) and AOT(Ahead-Of-Time) compilation mainly for Flutter applications(Cross platform application development), while Kotlin leverages JVM for Android applications development.

What is the primary difference between Dart and Kotlin?

Dart language is widely used for Web development, server-side programming, and cross-platform applications development, while Kotlin is the preferred choice for Android app development, server-side programming, and data science applications.