Book Image

Mastering Kotlin

By : Nate Ebel
Book Image

Mastering Kotlin

By: Nate Ebel

Overview of this book

Using Kotlin without taking advantage of its power and interoperability is like owning a sports car and never taking it out of the garage. While documentation and introductory resources can help you learn the basics of Kotlin, the fact that it’s a new language means that there are limited learning resources and code bases available in comparison to Java and other established languages. This Kotlin book will show you how to leverage software designs and concepts that have made Java the most dominant enterprise programming language. You’ll understand how Kotlin is a modern approach to object-oriented programming (OOP). This book will take you through the vast array of features that Kotlin provides over other languages. These features include seamless interoperability with Java, efficient syntax, built-in functional programming constructs, and support for creating your own DSL. Finally, you will gain an understanding of implementing practical design patterns and best practices to help you master the Kotlin language. By the end of the book, you'll have obtained an advanced understanding of Kotlin in order to be able to build production-grade applications.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Kotlin – A Modern Solution to Application Development
4
Section 2: Putting the Pieces Together – Modeling Data, Managing State, and Application Architecture
8
Section 3: Play Nice – Integrating Kotlin With Existing Code
13
Section 4: Go Beyond – Exploring Advanced and Experimental Language Features
17
Section 5: The Wide World of Kotlin – Using Kotlin across the Entire Development Stack

Chapter 5: Modeling Real-World Data

  1. How do you define a class in Kotlin?
  • Use the class keyword followed by a name. You can then optionally add properties and methods.
  1. How do you define an interface in Kotlin?
  • Use the interface keyword followed by a name. You can then optionally add properties and functions.
  1. What are data classes?
  • Special classes that generate the equals(), hashCode(), and toString() implementations, and are ideal for immutable data classes
  1. What are sealed classes?
  • A special type of class useful for creating restricted class hierarchies. They are similar to enums, but allow each type in the hierarchy to have unique properties and methods.
  1. How is a sealed class different from an enum?
  • Sealed classes can include multiple different classes within the hierarchy and can include different data and methods.
  1. What is an object expression?
  • Kotlin&apos...