Kotlin (programming language)
Designed by | JetBrains |
---|---|
Developer | JetBrains and open source contributors |
Typing discipline | static |
Influenced by | Java, Scala, Groovy, C# |
Platform | Java Virtual Machine |
OS | any JVM supported |
License | Apache 2 |
Website | http://kotlin.jetbrains.org/ |
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Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine. Its primary development is from a team of JetBrains programmers based in St. Petersburg, Russia (the name comes from the Kotlin Island, near St. Petersburg).[1] Kotlin was named Language of the Month in the January 2012 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal.[2] While not syntax compatible with Java, Kotlin is designed to interoperate with Java code and is reliant on Java code from the existing Java Class Library, such as the Collections Framework.
History
In July 2011 JetBrains unveiled Project Kotlin, which had been under development for a year, a new language for the JVM.[3] JetBrains lead Dmitry Jemerov said that most languages did not have the features they were looking for, with the exception of Scala. However, he cited the slow compile time of Scala as an obvious deficiency.[3] One of the stated goals of Kotlin is to compile as fast as Java. In February 2012, JetBrains open sourced the project under the Apache 2 license.[4]
Philosopy
Development lead Andrey Breslav has said that Kotlin is designed to be an industrial strength object-oriented language, be a better language than Java but still be fully interoperable with Java code, allowing companies to make a gradual migration from Java to Kotlin.[5]
Semantics
Like Pascal and Scala, Kotlin variable declarations and parameter lists have the data type come after the variable name (and with a colon separator), unlike C and its derivatives such as C++, Java, C#, and D.
Hello, world! example
package hello fun main(args : Array<String>) { println("Hello, world!") }
References
- ↑ Heiss, Janice (April 2013). "The Advent of Kotlin: A Conversation with JetBrains' Andrey Breslav". oracle.com. Oracle Technology Network. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ↑ Breslev, Andrey (January 20, 2012). "Language of the Month: Kotlin". drdobbs.com. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Krill, Paul (Jul 22, 2011). "JetBrains readies JVM language Kotlin". infoworld.com. InfoWorld. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ↑ Waters, John (February 22, 2012). "Kotlin Goes Open Source". ADTmag.com/. 1105 Enterprise Computing Group. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ↑ RebelLabs (April 22, 2013). "JVM Languages Report extended interview with Kotlin creator Andrey Breslav". http://zeroturnaround.com/. Retrieved February 2, 2014.