Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#1

Post by lemevi » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 4:15 AM UTC

I was looking at Kotlin and was curious. It looks very interesting feature wise but I worry about its long term viability given it's low presence on GitHub[1] and [1] https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=language%3AKotlin&ref=searchresults&s=stars&type=Repositories&utf8=

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#2

Post by comrade1 » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:45 AM UTC

Where's Kotlin?

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#3

Post by yareally » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:49 AM UTC

> I worry about its long term viability given it's low presence on GitHub[1] and It's only on version 0.12.213. Bit premature to judge long term viability imho.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#4

Post by Joky » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 5:52 AM UTC

comrade1 wrote: post #2

Where's Kotlin?

Kotlin is in the kitchen! (with Bryan)

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#5

Post by Cyph0n » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:02 AM UTC

It is officially supported by Jetbrains. I don't really see it as a full-fledged language but rather an extension of Java. I'm planning on trying out on my next Android app.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#6

Post by ex3ndr » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:19 AM UTC

It seems that Kotlin will be officially presented as next language for Android. IDEA and Android Studio will receive built-in full support for Kotlin in nearest future.

I write some parts of Telegram app in Kotlin. Pretty good after plain java. I can't rely on it in production yet (used in build chain).

My feelings that React Native + Kotlin could be awesome combination.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#7

Post by imd23 » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:21 AM UTC

It was awesome 1 year ago and I think I it supports annotations now, so I'd go for it.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#8

Post by ken47 » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:29 AM UTC

ex3ndr wrote: post #6

It seems that Kotlin will be officially presented as next language for Android. IDEA and Android Studio will receive built-in full support for Kotlin in nearest future. I write some parts of Telegram app in Kotlin. Pretty good after plain java. I can't rely on it in production yet (used in build chain). My feelings that React Native + Kotlin could be awesome combination.

"It seems that Kotlin will be officially presented as next language for Android."

Source?

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#9

Post by dodyg » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:32 AM UTC

I started an open source Android project in Kotlin (https://github.com/dodyg) three years ago so I have witnessed the language evolution from early on.

This is what I love about Kotlin:

- It is IMHO the best language to develop native application in Android by far.

- I was primarily a C# developer (still now) and I could pick up the language in a day. The language is quite small for people that has already known a programming language.

- JetBrains is taking their time to get the language right. There is no 'swift syndrome' here.

- They are really serious about the Java 100% compatibility.

- The IDE support is world class.

- It is a really pleasant language to use.

- JetBrains is actually using the language for their own products.

- The community is friendly and the language designers are approachable.

- You can really mix and match Java and Kotlin code in the same project. You don't have to use it only in a green field projects.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone here programmed in Kotlin? What do you think about it?

#10

Post by ex3ndr » Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 6:36 AM UTC

ken47 wrote: post #8

ex3ndr wrote: post #6

It seems that Kotlin will be officially presented as next language for Android. IDEA and Android Studio will receive built-in full support for Kotlin in nearest future. I write some parts of Telegram app in Kotlin. Pretty good after plain java. I can't rely on it in production yet (used in build chain). My feelings that React Native + Kotlin could be awesome combination.

"It seems that Kotlin will be officially presented as next language for Android." Source?

Just rumours. I hear that Kotlin will be preinstalled in nearest versions of Android Studio.

For google Kotlin can be very good language: it designed to compile to javascript, so you can write code for Android and Web in one language.

Also JetBrains developing (not a surprise) Android Studio for Google. JetBrains is most qualified company for building Java-based language.