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Intro To Kotlin

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that runs on the JVM and JavaScript. It aims to be concise, safe, and explicit. Kotlin can be used to build applications for server-side, Android, browsers, and desktop. It interoperates fully with Java code and has excellent tooling support in IntelliJ and Eclipse. This document provides instructions for setting up Kotlin in various environments.

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Akasha Cheema
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107 views21 pages

Intro To Kotlin

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that runs on the JVM and JavaScript. It aims to be concise, safe, and explicit. Kotlin can be used to build applications for server-side, Android, browsers, and desktop. It interoperates fully with Java code and has excellent tooling support in IntelliJ and Eclipse. This document provides instructions for setting up Kotlin in various environments.

Uploaded by

Akasha Cheema
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Kotlin is a programming language developed by JetBrains, the same

company that has built world-class IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, PhpStorm,
PyCharm, ReSharper etc.
It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and can also be compiled to
JavaScript and Machine Code.
In this tutorial, I’ll give you a brief overview of Kotlin and its features. I’ll
also help you set up Kotlin in your system and prepare you for future
tutorials.

Why Kotlin?

In today’s world where we have a dozen programming language for


every possible task, following are few reasons to choose Kotlin as the
primary language for your next exciting project -

1. Statically Typed

Kotlin is a Statically typed programming language. This means that the


type of every variable and expression is known at compile time.
The advantage with static typing is that the compiler can validate the
methods calls and property access on the objects at compile time itself
and prevent lots of trivial bugs that would otherwise crop up at runtime.
Although Kotlin is a statically typed language, it doesn’t require you to
explicitly specify the type of every variable you declare. Most of the time,
Kotlin can infer the type of a variable from the initializer expression or the
surrounding context. This is called Type Inference. You’ll learn more
about Type inference in the Variables and Data Types tutorial.

2. Concise

Kotlin is concise. It drastically reduces the amount of boilerplate code


that you have been writing all the time in other OOP languages like Java.
It provides rich idioms for performing common tasks. For example, You
can create a POJO class with getters,
setters,  equals() ,  hashCode()  and  toString()  methods in a single
line -

data class User(val name: String, val email: String, val country: String)

3. Safe

Kotlin is safe. It avoids the most dreaded and annoying


NullPointerExceptions by supporting  nullability  as part of its type
system.
It works like this - Every variable in Kotlin is  non-null  by default:

String str = "Hello, World" // Non-null type (can't hold null value)

str = null // Compiler Error

To allow a variable to hold  null  value, you need to explicitly declare it


as  nullable :

String nullableStr? = null // Nullable type (can be null)

Since Kotlin knows which variables are  nullable  and which are not, It
can detect and disallow unsafe calls at compile time itself that would
otherwise result in a  NullPointerException  at runtime -

println(nullableStr.length()) // Compiler Error


Kotlin doesn’t allow the method call  length()  on
the  nullableStr  variable because the call is not safe and may lead
to  NullPointerException .

However, if you add a  null  check then the method call is allowed -

if(nullablStr != null) {

println(nullableStr.length())

Notice how Kotlin is enforcing developers to write safe code by


distinguishing between nullable and non-null types.

4. Explicit

Kotlin is Explicit. It will do/allow things only if you tell it to do so.


Explicitness is considered a good thing. Being explicit means being
specific about your design choices and not hiding anything from the
readers or consumers of your code.
Following are few examples of Explicitness in Kotlin -
 Kotlin doesn’t allow implicit type conversions, for
example,  int  to  long , or  float  to  double . It provides methods
like  toLong()  and  toDouble()  to do so explicitly.

 All the classes in Kotlin are  final  (non-inheritable) by default. You


need to explicitly mark a class as  open  to allow other classes to
inherit from it. Similarly, All the properties and member functions of a
class are  final  by default. You need to explicitly mark a function or
property as  open  to allow child classes to override it.

 If you’re overriding a parent class function or property, then you


need to explicitly annotate it with the  override  modifier.
5. Easy to learn.

Kotlin has a very low learning curve. The basic syntax looks a lot like
Java. If you have a little experience in Java or any other OOP language
then you’ll be able to pick up Kotlin in a matter of hours.

6. Functional and Object Oriented Capabilities

Kotlin has both functional and object-oriented capabilities. It has a rich


set of features to support functional programming which includes
functional types, lambda expressions, data classes and much more.

7. Completely interoperable with Java

Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java. You can easily access Java code
from Kotlin and vice versa. You can use Kotlin and Java in the same
project without any problem. This enables easy adoption of Kotlin into
your existing Java projects.

8. Excellent Tooling
Kotlin has excellent tooling support. You can choose any Java IDE -
IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, Android Studio. All of them support Kotlin.
Moreover, you can also download Kotlin’s standalone compiler and run
Kotlin code from the command line.

9. Build Applications for Server Side, Android, Browser, and


Desktop

You can use Koltin to build applications for a wide range of platforms
including Server side, Android, Browser, and Desktop.

 Android has official support for Kotlin.


 On the server side, you can use Kotlin with the Spring
framework which has added full support for Kotlin in Spring version 5.
 Kotlin can be compiled to JavaScript and Machine code as well.

10. Free and Open Source

Kotlin programming language, including the compiler, libraries and all the
tooling is completely free and open source. It is available under Apache
2 license and the complete project is hosted on Github
- https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin

Setup Kotlin

You can set up and run Kotlin programs in several ways. You can either
install kotlin’s compiler and run Kotlin programs from the command line
or install and setup Kotlin in an IDE like IntelliJ or Eclipse -
 Install Kotlin’s Standalone Compiler

 Setup Kotlin in IntelliJ IDEA

 Setup Kotlin in Eclipse

Installing the Standalone Compiler

Follow the steps below to install Kotlin’s compiler -


1. Go to Kotlin releases page on Github
2. Download Kotlin’s compiler in the form of a zip file from the Assets
section on the Github releases page. The latest version of Kotlin
compiler at the time of writing this page is  1.2.10

3. Unzip the downloaded  kotlin-compiler-x.x.x.zip  file and


store the unzipped folder in a location where you have write access.
4. Add  path-to-unzipped-folder/bin  to your PATH variable.

5. Verify the installation by typing  kotlinc  in the command line -

$ kotlinc

Welcome to Kotlin version 1.2.10 (JRE 1.8.0_112-b16)

Type :help for help, :quit for quit

>>>
Run your first Kotlin program from the command line
Open your favorite editor and create a new file called  hello.kt  with the
following contents -

fun main(args: Array<String>) {

println("Hello, World!")

Save the file and type the following commands to compile and run the
program

$ kotlinc hello.kt

$ kotlin HelloKt

Hello, World

Setting up Kotlin in IntelliJ IDEA

Install the latest version of IntelliJ IDEA. Kotlin comes bundled with the
recent versions of IntelliJ. You won’t need to install any plug-in
separately to run Kotlin programs.
Follow these steps to create and run a new Kotlin project in IntelliJ
1. Create a new project by selecting “Create New Project” on the
welcome screen or go to  File → New → Project .

Select  Kotlin  on the left side menu and  Kotlin/JVM  from the
options on the right side -
1. Specify the project’s name and location, and select a Java version
(1.6+) in the Project SDK. Once all the details are entered,
click  Finish  to create the project -

The generated project will look like this -


2. Let’s now create a new Kotlin file.  Right click on src folder
→ New → Kotlin File/Class .
A prompt will appear where you’ll need to provide a name for the file.
Let’s name it  HelloWorld .

3. Now let’s write a simple hello world program in the new file that we
have created. Add the following  main()  function to
the  HelloWorld.kt  file -
4. Finally, You can run the program by clicking the  Kotlin  icon that
appears beside the  main()  method -

You can also run the program by Right Clicking the  HelloWorld.kt  file
and selecting  Run 'HelloWorldKt' .

Setting up Kotlin in Eclipse

I assume that you have Eclipse installed on your system. If not,


download the eclipse installer from Eclipse Downloads page, and install
“Eclipse IDE for Java Developers”.
Once Eclipse is installed, follow the steps below to setup and run Kotlin
in Eclipse -
1. Install Kotlin Plugin from Eclipse Marketplace: Go to  Help →
Eclipse Marketplace , and search for Kotlin.
Click install to install the plugin.
2. You will need to restart eclipse once the installation is finished.
3. Let’s verify the plugin’s installation switching to Kotlin perspective
in eclipse. Go to  Window → Perspective → Open Perspective →
Other . A window will open which will show  Kotlin  as a new
perspective. Select Kotlin and click  Open  to open Kotlin perspective -
4. Let’s now create a new project. Select  File → New → Kotlin
Project . Enter the project’s name and click finish -

5. A new project will be created which will look like this -


6. Let’s now create a new Kotlin file under the  src  folder.  Right
click src folder → New → Kotlin File  -
7. First, add the following code in the  HelloWorld.kt  file, and then
right-click anywhere on the source file and click  Run As → Kotlin
Application  to run the application -
Conclusion
That’s all folks! In this article, you learned about Kotlin and some of its
features. You also learned how to setup and run Kotlin programs in your
system using Kotlin’s standalone compiler and IDEs like IntelliJ and
Eclipse.
You can access all Kotlin tutorials from the sidebar menu. I’ll write new
tutorials every week on various topics and publish them here. Stay
tuned!
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