Kotlin or Java for new programmers

[Jim Venolia]

My 14 y/o grandson wants to learn to program and asked if I thought Java was a good choice.  Personally I think Python is best for a beginner, but it got me to wondering.  Would Kotlin or Java be best for a new programmer to learn?

His interest is making apps for Android, so Python is out in this case.  From my perspective Java is his best choice because he can ask me for help.  Also, Java is the worst choice because he can ask me for help

[Sean Corfield]

What a great question! I'll be interested to hear Peter's take on this.

I agree that Python would normally be a good recommendation for a brand new programmer but given the interest in Android apps, I would be comfortable suggesting Kotlin. Java is a simple, straightforward language but it has a lot of boilerplate that is distracting for beginners and it's very verbose. When I learned Kotlin, I found the tutorials to be excellent (much better than anything I've seen for Java) and the community is very enthusiastic and helpful (the Kotlin Slack was where I asked a lot of my newbie questions). If I were just getting started and wanted to build Android apps, I think I would find the cleanliness of Kotlin much more approachable than Java!

If your grandson does go with Kotlin, please make sure to keep us posted on how he's doing with it.

[Peter Sommerhoff]

Hi Jim,
Hi Sean,

I agree that Python would be a good first programming language but Kotlin is a good choice, too. A problem might be that there aren't many Kotlin resources for total beginners. @Sean: could you share which resources you meant? Were those suitable for programming beginners? Due to this lack of beginner-level tutorials, I created a Udemy course "Kotlin for Beginners" years ago so that might be a good starting point.

Personally, I think Kotlin is very much preferable to Java as a first language because you don't need as much confusing boilerplate. But in the end, I'm sure your grandson will do just fine with both. The most important thing are the concepts, and conceptually the two languages are very similar.

- Peter

[Sean Corfield]

Peter Sommerhoff wrote:could you share which resources you meant? Were those suitable for programming beginners?

Unfortunately, I don't remember specifically what I read/used. It may well have been stuff recommended by folks in the Kotlin Slack. I do think the docs on the main Kotlin site are pretty good, as "new language" documentation goes.

As to suitability for complete beginners... that's really hard for me to judge these days, having been programming professionally for close to forty years (and five years "for fun" before that).

[Al Hobbs]

Probably java considering theres way more resources for him to use for learning.  Also the verbosity might might it clearer as to what is happening.  Less verbosity is a plus if things are obvious even if it isnt spelled out, which would be a plus only to somebody who already knows how to program.