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Android now supports Kotlin

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Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#81
post #71
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal. The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my…

It's weird you'd accuse Kotlin of throwing stuff at the wall while simultaneously speaking kind of Scala. Scala has so many competing ideas & approaches just all mashed up into a blob.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#82
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dart is not a JVM Language. It can be compiled to the JavaScript or run in the Dart VM.

The wording was a bit confusing, but I think they meant "Java-like" and "VM-based" as separate things, not that Dart runs on the JVM.

Oh, it seems I've skipped "like" in "Java like VM based", sorry.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#83
I love Kotlin and her twin sister Swift. They're both beautiful and allow you to code apps for the desktop, server, mobile, watch, TV, IoT, and everything in between.

They're here to stay and they're a joy to use. Jump on the happy wagon and join us!

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#84
post #65
post #57

Good move. Out with possible null pointers everywhere for no freaking reason at all. It's 2017. Apple did a great job with Swift but launched it when it wasn't mature yet but Kotlin will have JetBrains level of IDE support from the get go so and it's mature already only a luddite would stay with Java.

Apple released Swift early (June 2014) so that it could be used in real programs, and so that developers could provide feedback. You weren't, and still aren't, forced to use it. Although, it seems to have matured enough in 3 years to the point where it's probably the best iOS development language. Kotlin was released in 2011. I bet that if Google had adopted it three years ago, it would have helped accelerate Kotlin…

Kotlin was released on 15 February 2016.[0]

[0] https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2016/02/kotlin-1-0-release...

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#85
post #75
post #54

This, along with recent Kotlin Native news, lends me to believe Google is investigating some alternative platforms for replacing their dependence on Java APIs and removing any possibility of being further hamstrung by Oracle.

This news sounds quite opposite to me. Although adding a new language is always a good news but Kotlin won't solve any problems with Oracle, since it is just another JVM language. This news sounds like Google is going for an easier way instead of ditching Oracle stuff.

It does open up a path for a possible future migration to Kotlin Native (in several steps), but that's really just wild speculation.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#86
post #71
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal. The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my…

I have starting learning kotlin 2 years ago for Android but I have not yet touched Scala, so I am also biased.

After 2 hours with the kotlin koans (short exercises allowing you to learn the language), it was already clear that Kotlin solves most of java's limitations when writing android apps.

higher order functions : so powerful .. at the cost of dex (and I don't really care about dex size), I can get very flexible calls.

nullability backed in the compiler

100 % java interop

data classes

default parameters values ..

etc

IIRC, the larger runtime was what prevented Scala from being interesting on Android. I know that Scaloid has been working on making it more svelte though.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#87
post #71
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal. The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my…

I tend to agree. Sure, Kotlin is much more terse than Java. But looking at it I can't help much miss language features I've gotten used to in Rust, Haskell et al. I'm sure it's a wonderful language and an improvement over Java but there's nothing that excites me about it.

Hey, at least they've got nullable types? That's a big win over Java right there.

Re: Android now supports Kotlin

#89
post #71
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see what it has to do with relationships. Convince us why Scala would've been a better choice?

I have nothing against Kotlin. It seems to be coming out of nowhere to surpass more "tested" languages for lack of a better way of putting it, but as I'm reading about it I can truly see the appeal. The one thing I'm having trouble figuring out, though, is how much it diverges from Java in terms of inheritance, traits, etc. The verbosity of Java is one thing, but its inheritance system is what made me want to pull my…

Kotlin didn't change, the only difference is `trait` keyword replaced with `interface` keyword. But I'm not really getting this article. Inheritance is key principle of Object-Oriented Programming, throwing it away would be very stupid move. It could be abused, but everything could. Kotlin solves this in pragmatic way: if you need inheritance, you must declare it explicitly. If you want delegation, Kotlin got you covered with awesome delegate syntax. The choice is up to you.

Also remember that good compatibility with Java is a big priority for Kotlin, so inheritance works very similar to Java and compiles to the same obvious JVM structures.

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