Kotlin

Introduction

Kotlin is made by JetBrains (the same as that did IntelliJ the IDE).

See their website here:

• Kotlin
• Getting started
• Kotlin 101

Get started

Compiled with Java11.

To use with IntelliJ, you can select your project SDK, if you have multiple ones. Use File | Project Structure... | Project Settings | Projects to choose Java 11.

With kotlinc

If you are not using intellij, you can run with:

kotlinc hello.kt

With gradle

You need to create the gradle file build.gradle (support groovy or kotlin) then add dependencies and configurations.

For gradle to pick up the source and test files, you will need to organise your folders like:

└── src
    ├── main
    │   └── kotlin
    │       └── package
    └── test
        └── kotlin
            └── package

You can now try to run the tests (using the gradle wrapper ./gradlew instead of gradle to use the gradle version with which the project has been built with):

./gradlew test

And the complete one with coverage:

./gradlew clean build test jacocoTestReport

Object-oriented

Some principles

• Inheritance : kill off duplicate codes
  • Implement with a Mother class implemented by a daughter class
• Polymorphism : abstraction of implementation
  • Implement using interface and generic functions
• Encapsulation : hiding the changes, protects data
  • Implement by using restrictive access to data or contructers

Objects comparison:

• equals: should not throw an exception
• hashCode: to compare (find) the object in a list

Encapsulation problems:

• Don't use setSomething and getSomething if you need getters / setters but rather:
  • A Method with a verb to change something
  • A property with a noun to have the value of something
• Control the data flow
  • You want to control how the value of your object is handled
  • You don't want anyone using the data without knowing how to
  • Make everything as private as possible
• Data object, feature envy
• Classes finishing by -er or -or
  • Should be a job of the class, or implemented as a pattern

Tips

• Use ` (back tick) to define method's name with space:

@Test
fun `valid parameters` { ... }

• Overload Objects to generate new ones easily:

val Number.teaspoons get() = Quantity(this, Unit.teaspoon)

Quantity(1.5, Unit.teasponn) 
// Can now be written
1.5.teaspoons

• Before a recursion, ask yourself these questions:
  • What is the original question?
  • What is the recursive question?
  • What are the Terminal condition? (when the recursive stops)

Handling null

• The ? is used in Kotlin to handle null:

// The Rectangle? makes the function returns Rectangle or null
fun mayReturnRectangleOrNull() : Rectangle? { ... }

// With "?." the .rectangleMethod() will only occur when mayReturnRectangleOrNull() returns a rectangle
mayReturnRectangleOrNull()?.rectangleMethod() 

// Elvis ?: to have another value if the preceeding one return null
val somethingNotNull = emptyRectangle()
return mayReturnRectangleOrNull() ?: somethingNotNull 

• The !! to force the function to operate eventhough it can be null:

return if (list.isEmpty) -1 else list.min()!! //list can be null, without !! it would complain, but can still return null

• Using the this@Class inside of a list.apply { this.prepend(this@Class) }, you are calling the this of the class (so this@Class to differentiate from the other this (element of the list that you apply to).

Work with recursive

When you have to create a recursive function, you first answer this three questions:

• What is the original question: What you are actually trying to do?
• What is the recursive question: What will you base your recursion on?
• What are the terminal conditions: When should the recursive question stopped and return an answer?

Keywords

• Any for any type
• init {} to check the values inputed at the creation of the class
• override at the beginning of the function to override it:

override fun equals(other: Any?) { ... }

• operator to override an operator function. Here an example with the comparison operator (>, <, ...)

operator fun compareTo(other: Probability) { ... }

• infix function are function where you can omit the .:

infix fun isCompatibleWith(other: Unit): Boolean { ... }

// calling the function using the infix notation
unit isCompatibleWith otherUnit

// is the same as
unit.isCompatibleWith(otherUnit)

• typealias is used to define a name for a function signature (hence alias) usually used to simplify simple functions into a type:

internal typealias CostStrategy = (Double) -> Double

Operation on lists

• flatMap transforms a list of list of stuff into a simple list of stuff

list.flatMap { List<List<Path>> } // returns List<Path>

• onEach is the same as list.map{ this.apply { ... } }

• sumByDouble is the same as list.map{}.sum{}