Название: Programmer's Guide To Kotlin, Third Edition
Автор: Mike James
Издательство: I/O Press
Год: 2024
Страниц: 269
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub
Размер: 10.1 MB

Kotlin is an interesting language because it is 100% runtime compatible with Java while being easier to use. Using Kotlin in either a new or existing JVM project makes programming simpler and your programs better, and this is one good reason for learning it. Kotlin experienced a surge of popularity when Google initially made it a first class language for Android development and, with Android now having officially replaced Java with Kotlin, it has continued to attract enthusiastic users. It has also found its way into many other domains as an object-oriented language that is fun and flexible in its approach.

This third edition of Programmer’s Guide To Kotlin was prompted by the release of Kotlin 2 which uses a new compiler that makes it faster. Its most important feature is that it has full support for Compose Multiplatform. This is a UI framework for cross-platform development that encompasses desktop, web, Android and iOS. This innovative system is covered in a new chapter which introduces the way Compose works and how it exploits Kotlin's unique features.

This book introduces Kotlin to programmers. You don't have to be an expert in Java or any other language, but you do need to know the basics of programming. As with all languages, Kotlin has some subtle areas where an understanding of how its small differences make a big difference to how you write expressive code.

Kotlin is frequently described as just a better Java, and it is. But this doesn’t make it any less deserving of our attention. Kotlin doesn’t introduce any really new ideas that will revolutionize the way we program, but it does its best to be an easy-to-use language that allows programmers to express their ideas in as direct a fashion as possible. For this reason it deserves every bit of admiration that an academically advanced language receives.

To add to its importance in the Android world, the latest approach to implementing an Android UI is to use JetPack Compose. This is a Kotlin-based approach to UI construction that makes good use of its language facilities to create an easy-to-use and logical UI. Compose is asynchronous and declarative and it forms the central part of MAD, Modern Android Development.

Going beyond Android, JetBrains has extended Compose to work with other platforms. Compose Multiplatform targets iOS, Windows, Linux and MacOS on the desktop and the Web. This makes it an excellent choice for cross-platform work and a great way to construct a single app that runs on most things with minimal platform-specific code. Finally, as Kotlin is a JVM language, it is 100% compatible with Java and can use existing Java code without any additional work. This means it can be incorporated into an existing JVM project without having to start over. In short, you need to learn Kotlin, and this is what this book is about.

Kotlin is based on Java so you have an advantage in learning it if you already know Java. It is also a disadvantage because those Java ways of doing things often get in the way; like old habits they die hard. In this book you will find out how to think about Kotlin’s way of doing things and why it is an attempt to make the creation of better code easier. In fact, it is an attempt to make the creation of any code easier. You still have to apply quality control if you want your code to be the best it can be – you can write poor code in Kotlin if you try. This is the reason you need to understand the intent of the features Kotlin introduces.