Book Image

Simplifying Application Development with Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile

By : Róbert Nagy
Book Image

Simplifying Application Development with Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile

By: Róbert Nagy

Overview of this book

Sharing code between platforms can help developers gain a competitive edge, and Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM) offers a sensible way to do it. KMM helps mobile teams share code between Android and iOS in a flexible way, leaving room for native development. The book begins by helping you to gain a clear understanding of the Kotlin Multiplatform approach, how it works, and how it is different from cross-platform technologies, such as React Native and Flutter, and code sharing options, such as C++. You'll then see how your team can use this software development kit (SDK) to build native applications more effectively by learning timeless concepts and working through practical examples. As you advance, you'll get to grips with the core concepts, understand why UI sharing fails, and get hands-on with developing a small KMM application. Finally, you'll discover expert tips and best practices, along with production- and adoption-related questions, that will help you take the next step in your project and career. By the end of this Kotlin book, you'll have gained a solid understanding of the capabilities of KMM and be able to share code between Android and iOS flexibly.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1 - Getting Started with Multiplatform Mobile Development Using Kotlin
5
Section 2 - Code Sharing between Android and iOS
10
Section 3 - Supercharging Yourself for the Next Steps

Chapter 2: Exploring the Three Compilers of Kotlin Multiplatform

In the previous chapter, we discussed that the interoperability quality of shared code is a key aspect of multiplatform development. To explore this interoperability quality, we need to examine how the three different backend compilers of Kotlin – Kotlin/JVM, Kotlin/Native, and Kotlin/JS – work. This will help you manage your expectations regarding the performance, future, and interoperability of Kotlin with the different platforms, which will help you leverage the potential of KMP.

By the end of this chapter, you will have a clearer picture of how the aforementioned compilers work, what interoperability constraints you'll have when working with them, and how to leverage their power.

In this chapter, we're going to cover the following topics:

  • Kotlin compilers in general
  • The Kotlin/JVM compiler
  • The Kotlin/Native compiler
  • The Kotlin/JS compiler