As with Kotlin, a key feature is interoperability with Java, in this case Oracle's Swing UI toolkit for Java. JetBrains' Android-to-desktop development program is still in its early stages, but it ...

Java still holds a large majority, with 86.9% of developers saying they use it as their main programming language for building JVM applications, compared to 5.5% with Kotlin.

A potpourri of Java client application technologies were on the agenda at the Desktop Matters conference in San Jose, Calif., where the desktop received top billing over the Web.

The growth has put Kotlin in second place, albeit well behind Java, but now ahead of Clojure and Scala. Oracle JDK – Java Development Kit – is also losing share to OpenJDK alternatives.