Transitioning to teaching android with kotlin and jetpack components

Abstract

Android tends to be the platform of choice in the education community due to its openness and the use of Java. Any major changes to the way Android apps are built could be helpful to both teachers and students. As of last year, Android officially supports Kotlin a modern Java interoperable language that offers null safety, reduced verbosity and numerous other modern programming language features. Furthermore, the current Android developer tool-set has been expanded to include a set of new libraries, tools, and architectural guidances called Android Jetpack. The new components simplify the process of implementing complex mobile app tasks such as lifecycle handling, persistence and background operations. In this poster, we share our findings in updating and teaching a CS3 introductory mobile software development course that was originally taught in Java.