A whispered question hangs in the air: Ever wonder where the name Kotlin comes from? Today we are standing on Kotlin Island near Saint Petersburg. Kotlin is more than just a geographical location. It is the namesake of a cutting-edge programming language.
Kotlin Island sits in the Gulf of Finland. It is about 32 kilometers west of Saint Petersburg. This island divides Neva Bay from the rest of the Gulf. Kronstadt, a fortified city, is on Kotlin. It is part of a World Heritage Site. This site includes Saint Petersburg and related monuments. The island has historically served as a gateway to Saint Petersburg. It has been the site of military engagements.
Now picture this. It is July 2011. JetBrains unveils Project Kotlin. This new language targets the Java Virtual Machine. Kotlin had been in development for a year. JetBrains needed a language with specific features. Scala came close. However its slow compilation time was a problem. One goal for Kotlin was to compile as fast as Java.
Andrey Breslav led the design team for Kotlin. He said the team chose the name to echo Java’s naming. Java is named after the Indonesian island. Kotlin follows this pattern. The first commit to Kotlin’s Git repository was in November 2010. Kotlin 1.0 was released on February 15, 2016. This marked Kotlin’s first stable release. JetBrains committed to long-term backwards compatibility from this version forward.
Kotlin is a cross-platform language. It is statically typed and general-purpose. Type inference makes its syntax concise. Kotlin works seamlessly with Java. The JVM version of Kotlin’s library relies on the Java Class Library. Kotlin targets the JVM. It also compiles to JavaScript and native code via LLVM. JetBrains bears the language development costs. The Kotlin Foundation protects the Kotlin trademark.
Google announced first-class support for Kotlin on Android in May 2017. Since October 2017, Android Studio 3.0 includes Kotlin. It serves as an alternative to the standard Java compiler. Kotlin has gained immense popularity. It is now Google’s preferred language for Android app developers. Kotlin is used in many applications from mobile to web development. Companies like Google use it for apps like Maps and Drive. Spring Framework has added Kotlin support. JetBrains created Ktor a Kotlin-first framework.
Notice how Kotlin relaxes Java’s restrictions? Kotlin allows static methods and variables outside a class. Kotlin offers extension functions like C#. This adds functions to classes without derived classes. Kotlin also features scope functions such as let, run and apply.
As you stand here on Kotlin Island consider its legacy. From a strategic military location to the inspiration of a powerful programming language, Kotlin Island embodies innovation. The spirit of Kotlin, both the island and the language lives on, bridging history with the future of technology.