Book Image

Simplifying Application Development with Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile

By : Robert Nagy
Book Image

Simplifying Application Development with Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile

By: Robert 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 3: Introducing Kotlin for Swift Developers

Before we turn things more practical and start developing our Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM) apps, I'd like to make sure everyone has the necessary knowledge to follow the steps. This chapter was designed for iOS and Swift developers, especially for those who don't have a comprehensive knowledge of Kotlin and Gradle. Most of the concepts in Swift can be found in Kotlin as well, and in this chapter, we're going to see how Swift's concepts translate to Kotlin. By the end of this chapter, you should be ready for KMM development, by understanding the core Kotlin concepts and other KMM prerequisites. We will be learning about the following topics:

  • Introducing Gradle
  • Exploring Kotlin's core features
  • Understanding Kotlin coroutines