Advanced Mobile Application

Development

Kotlin

March 23, 2024

 What is Kotlin?
• You may have noticed the option to write an app in Kotlin
when we create new apps with Android Studio
• Kotlin is a fully interoperable language with Java and any
app we've made so far can be written in Kotlin
• It is designed with "programmer productivity" features in
mind
• Many believe that this will be the standard native
development language for Android
 Kotlin: Variable Declaration
• Declaring a variable is slightly different in Kotlin, you begin
with either the Var keyword or the Val keyword
• Use Var if you expect the value of a variable to be
reassigned, otherwise use Val
 Kotlin: Type Inference
• The compiler has built in "type inference", it will attempt to
"guess" what your variable is if you don't give it an explicit
type
• It guesses based on the value of the variable
 Kotlin: Conditionals
• The if statement in Kotlin is quite different from what you're
used to, it returns a value
• It can be used in a similar way to the Java ternary operator
I.e. condition ? then : else

• Here myString is automatically assigned either "Larger" or

"Less or equal to", depending on the value of myInt
 Kotlin: Collections
• Kotlin Collections behave similarly to their Java counterparts,
but you will generally create either a Set, a Map or a List
• You also specify whether it should be "mutable" or not, a
mutableList is one that can be changed (add new elements
to it)
 Kotlin: Loops
• The For loop in Kotlin resembles a for each loop, it operates
on some "Iterable" object
 Kotlin: Functions
• Functions begin with the fun keyword, the "type" for any
parameters must be specified

• This example also shows another nice feature of Kotlin:

String Interpolation, the value of name is used directly
without concatenation
 Kotlin: Functions 2
• For more advanced functions you should specify a return
type, if you are returning a value

• However, for a one line function like this you can directly
assign it and it will "infer" the type
 Kotlin: Classes
• Kotlin is designed to remove a lot of the typical "boilerplate"
code from your classes, I.e. getters, setters

• This single line of code will create a simple Java Object with
two properties a firstName and an email
• It has a single constructor which requires both properties
The Same Class in Java
 Kotlin: Encapsulation 1
• You may have noticed that the Kotlin code doesn't have
"private"
• In fact it doesn't matter, there are "hidden" getters and
setters being created and used by Kotlin behind the scenes
• We access the properties like this, instead of using getters:
 Kotlin: Encapsulation 2
• Okay but that raises the question, what if we want some type
of validation for setting a property?
• We can override the hidden "setter" in our class file (we still
access the value using the "." instead of a setter)

• Note that the set(value) is below one of our properties

(email) and field is a special keyword used by Kotlin
 Kotlin Features: Nulls
• One of the most common causes for crashes is a Null
Pointer Exception
• In this class, we often run into issues like this when we try to
call "setText" on a TextView that is currently null
• Kotlin avoids this issue by introducing the ? "safe-call"
 Kotlin Features: Nulls in Java
• This "?" safe call operator essentially serves the same
purpose as a null check in Java

• Note that if we do not include this check, our app will crash if
we haven't called "findViewById" before
 Kotlin Features: SAM Conversions
• We use SAM (Single Abstract Method) interfaces all the time
in Android (our onClickListener is one of these)
• Kotlin allows you to pass a "lambda" instead which cleans up
the code
• A lambda is a special function which is not declared but
treated as an expression
• You will use them with the "->" arrow notation, similar (but
not the same) as what you may have done in JavaScript
 Lambda onClickListener
• Compare the Java vs. The Kotlin for an onClickListener
 Conclusion
• This has just been a very brief overview of what Kotlin offers
• If you are interested in learning more check out the following
resources:
• https://developer.android.com/kotlin
• https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/
• It is important to note that Kotlin doesn't "do" anything that
Java couldn't already do, most of the benefits come from
improving readability and reducing potential of bugs