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>Kotlin costs nothing to adopt! It’s open source, but that’s not what I mean here. What I mean is there’s a high quality, one-click Java to Kotlin converter too
by ternaryoperator 10y ago
>Kotlin costs nothing to adopt! It’s open source, but that’s not what I mean here. What I mean is there’s a high quality, one-click Java to Kotlin converter tool, and a strong focus on Java binary compatibility.
The costs of adopting a new language are greatly more significant than implied here. The time it takes to learn it. The time it turns to learn the tools that are specific to it. And if you put it into production, the technical debt you've created by adding another language to the codebase, etc.
If the OP had said that you don't have to start a green-field project to use it, that would be more accurate.
- mike_hearn 10y agoMy experience has been that the learning curve for Kotlin is extremely shallow if you're an experienced Java developer. This is not just my experience but also the experience of building a team that's working with Kotlin all day. One reason the cost is low, is that there aren't really many tools specific to Kotlin (or any, really). You can use the same IDEs, the same build toolchains, the same libraries, even the same standard library as regular Java.
- eropple 10y agoUpvoted you, but adding on: a competent Java developer can pick up Kotlin in, literally, three hours. The mappings to Java concepts are trivial, but the language's niceties quickly bear themselves out as you go.