Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Kotlin?
Kotlin is an open-source statically typed programming language that targets the JVM,Android, JavaScript, Wasm, and Native. It's developed by JetBrains. The project started in 2010 and was open source from very early on. The first official 1.0 release was in February 2016.
The currently released version is 1.9.24, published on May 7, 2024.You can find more information on GitHub.
Yes. Kotlin is free, has been free and will remain free. It is developed under the Apache 2.0 license, and the source code is available on GitHub.
What are Kotlin capable for ?
Kotlin is more concise. Rough estimates indicate approximately a 40% cut in the number of lines of code. It's also more type-safe – for example, support for non-nullable types makes applications less prone to NPE's. Other features including smart casting, higher-order functions, extension functions, and lambdas with receivers provide the ability to write expressive code as well as facilitating creation of DSL.
Kotlin has both object-oriented and functional constructs. You can use it in both OO and FP styles, or mix elements of the two. With first-class support for features such as higher-order functions, function types, and lambdas, Kotlin is a great choice if you're doing or exploring functional programming.
Kotlin can be used for any kind of development, be it server-side, client-side web, Android, or multiplatform library. With Kotlin/Native currently in the works, support for other platforms such as embedded systems, macOS, and iOS. People are using Kotlin for mobile and server-side applications, client-side with JavaScript or JavaFX, and data science, just to name a few possibilities.