Kotlin/JS allows developers to access powerful browser and web APIs in a type-safe fashion. They can write front-end code in the same language that they used for back-end code, and it’ll be compiled to JavaScript to run in the browser. Kotlin is a statically typed, object-oriented programming language that is interoperable with the Java virtual machine (JVM), Java Class Libraries and Android. Kotlin is inspired by existing languages such as Java, C#, JavaScript, Scala and Groovy.
KotlinConf is an annual conference hosted by JetBrains, which brings together developers, enthusiasts, and experts from around the world to share their knowledge and experience with Kotlin. Kotlin developers hang out on the Kotlin forums, StackOverflow and more actively on the Kotlin Slack (with close to members as of April 2020). Kotlin is primarily developed by a team of engineers at JetBrains (current team size is 100+). In addition to the core team, there are also over 250 external contributors on GitHub. When targeting native, Kotlin will produce platform-specific code (via LLVM).
Extension functions
You can use it in both OO and FP styles, or mix elements of the two. With first-class support for features such as higher-order functions, function types and lambdas, Kotlin is a great choice if you’re doing or exploring functional programming. So, these are some of the features that add to the popularity of Kotlin programming language.
- Kotlin is a statically-typed, general-purpose programming language.
- Kotlin’s interoperability with the JVM makes it compatible with existing Java code and allows businesses to leverage existing Java ecosystems.
- Extension functions provide the C#-like ability to extend a class with new functionality without having to inherit from the class or use any type of design pattern such as Decorator.
- Kotlin is a preferred language for development because of interoperability, less run time and efficient coding features.
- Null pointer exceptions are one of the most prevalent problems in Java projects.
Since the inauguration of Kotlin in 2011 by Jetbrain, it has made quite a name in the community of developers. Among all the statically typed and general-purpose languages, Kotlin stands on a higher ground comparing most programming languages to learn in this era of computer science. As a statically typed language, Kotlin was initially designed to run on the JVM. However, it is also possible to compile Kotlin code to JavaScript. Kotlin’s native binaries can run on macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, Linux, Windows and Android NDK. Ultimately, Kotlin produces either Java bytecode, JavaScript-compatible code or native binaries based on the target platform.
What is Kotlin?
To override a superclass method, the method itself must be marked open, and the subclass method must be marked override. This is all of a piece with Kotlin’s philosophy of making things explicit rather than relying on defaults. In the following example, we will see how we can declare two different variables using « val » and « var ». Abstract classes define abstract or « pure virtual » placeholder functions that will be defined in a derived class. As shown in the above figure, you can either use Eclipse or IntelliJ or Android Studio to develop applications. But, I am using IntelliJ IDEA because it is the platform which is mainly designed and developed for Kotlin and a feasible IDE.
If you have written your first Kotlin code, you’ll notice the main() function declared as fun—an entry point of the Kotlin application and defines a block of code to perform a specific task. Kotlin supports default arguments, named arguments, varargs, lambda expressions, and higher-order hire kotlin programmer functions. This means it’s not possible to assign a null value to a variable. Kotlin distinguishes between references that can hold a null state and those that cannot. For example, we can declare a regular variable type string as either capable of holding null values or not.
What advantages does Kotlin give me over the Java programming language?
In other words, Kotlin has all of the features and advantages of a functional language. For example, consider the following functional Kotlin idioms. It is not completely obvious from this example, but Kotlin has relaxed Java’s requirement that functions be class members. In Kotlin, functions may be declared at top level in a file, locally inside other functions, as a member function inside a class or object, and as an extension function. Extension functions provide the C#-like ability to extend a class with new functionality without having to inherit from the class or use any type of design pattern such as Decorator. Kotlin supports the specification of a « primary constructor » as part of the class definition itself, consisting of an argument list following the class name.
It provides state management, validation, routing, and more out of the box, and integrates with Kotlin Multiplatform projects. Kotlin is a perfect alternative because they can use all the standard Java libraries from previous projects but write their code in Kotlin. Since its initial release in 2016, Kotlin has gained immense popularity and quickly became one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Programmers use Kotlin for server-side applications, as well as the mobile app.
Training for a Team
Our Kotlin tutorial is designed for beginners and professionals both. As Kotlin, the successor of java, understanding the uses would be easier when known through comparing Java and Kotlin. This can be used on both the source side and client-side also. It can be easily used in all operating systems like iOS, MacOS and embedded systems.
Kotlin is an open-source, statically typed programming language that was officially launched by JetBrains in 2011. Originally, Kotlin’s creator, Dmitry Jemerov, required features Java didn’t have. He found those features in Scala and Groovy, which are other programming languages that could run on the JVM (C# and JavaScript also influenced Jemerov). In Scala, basic types like numbers and booleans are not represented as primitive types; instead they are objects. Meanwhile, Groovy provides a concise and efficient way of handling variable nullability. That said, Scala and Groovy both take a long time to compile so Jemerov wanted a new language that had all the benefits of Scala and Groovy but compiled as fast as Java.
Can I use Kotlin for Android development?
This Kotlin tutorial is designed for beginners as well as professional, which covers basic and advanced concepts of Kotlin programming language. Support for multiplatform programming is one of Kotlin’s key benefits. It reduces time spent writing and maintaining the same code https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ for different platforms while retaining the flexibility and benefits of native programming. Using val in our code makes it easier to read and incredibly compact. Using the example above, we can see how we don’t need to declare the variable type in the beginning of a HashMap.
You can learn all the Kotlin essentials while creating working applications with the Kotlin Core track by JetBrains Academy. From there you can download the compiler, try it online as well as get access to resources. It is developed under the Apache 2.0 license and the source code is available on GitHub. Pinterest was the poster child for Android apps written in Kotlin as early as November 2016, and it was mentioned prominently at Google I/O 2017 as part of the Kotlin announcement. In addition, the Kotlin team likes to cite the Evernote, Trello, Gradle, Corda, Spring, and Coursera apps for Android. You can use a non-nullable type with impunity, but you have to test a nullable type for null values before using it.
How to Start with Kotlin?
For almost anyone doing Android development, the advantages of Kotlin are compelling. The typical rough estimate indicates approximately a 40% cut in the number of lines of code from Java to Kotlin. Class member functions are virtual, i.e. dispatched based on the runtime type of the object they are called on. It supports exiguous subtyping along with polymorphism and variance. At the same time, though, it manages to maintain higher-order functions and lambda literal syntax.