When I first started using Kotlin...

When I first started using Kotlin...

I was an early adopter of Kotlin. I’d already used it in production for a Spring service and an Android app before Google announced first-class support at I/O 2017. So of course, I couldn’t wait to show my coworkers!

Null safety, data classes, default arguments… I just had to show them how Java boilerplate simply vanished! In one demo, I replaced a 35-line Java class with 3 lines of Kotlin. Of course, I stacked the deck - Java constructor overloads are great for inflating line counts!

And the Java interop! You didn’t have to go all in – just drop Kotlin files into the same project. The change was totally invisible to deployment engineers. In fact, my friend and I dropped our first Kotlin code into production without actually telling anyone! (Somehow it didn’t occur to us… We looked at each other afterward and said, “Hmm… maybe we should have said something …”)

Where is Kotlin going?

That was a while ago. What about today? Kotlin’s not just a “better Java”. In fact, Java itself has become more modern since then. And Kotlin has leaned heavily into multiplatform. And maybe that’s where it’ll shine in the future - helping us build apps for the JVM, JavaScript, WebAssembly, and native platforms with one language and tool set.

What about you - were you also an early adopter, or did you pick up Kotlin more recently? Hit reply and let me know your story. I’d love to hear it!

Thanks,
Dave

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