Kotlin v1.6 released, JVM-based programming language
Kotlin is a statically typed, cross-platform, general-purpose programming language with type inference. Kotlin is designed to interoperate fully with Java, and the JVM version of its standard library depends on the Java Class Library, but type inference allows its syntax to be more concise. Kotlin mainly targets the JVM but also compiles to JavaScript or native code (via LLVM). Kotlin is sponsored by JetBrains, a software development company based in Prague, and is also backed by Google under the Kotlin Foundation.
Kotlin is officially supported by Google for mobile development on Android. Since the release of Android Studio 3.0 in October 2017, Kotlin is included as an alternative to the standard Java compiler. The Android Kotlin compiler lets the user choose between targeting Java 6 or Java 8 compatible bytecode.
Changelog v1.6
Android
KT-48019Bundle Kotlin Tooling Metadata into apk artifactsKT-47733JVM / IR: Android Synthetic don’t generate _findCachedViewById functionCompiler
New Features
KT-47984In-place arguments inlining for @InlineOnly functionsKT-12794Allow runtime retention repeatable annotations when compiling under Java 8KT-43714Support annotations on class type parameters (AnnotationTarget.TYPE_PARAMETER)KT-45949Kotlin/Native: Improve bound check eliminationKT-43919Support loading Java annotations on base classes and implementing interfaces’ type argumentsKT-48194Try to resolve calls where we don’t have enough type information, using the builder inference despite the presence of the annotationKT-47736Support conversion from regular functional types to suspending ones in JVM IRKT-39055Support property delegate created via synthetic method instead of fieldPerformance Improvements
KT-45185FIR2IR: get rid of IrBuiltIns usagesKT-47918JVM / IR: Performance degradation with const-bound for-cyclesKT-33835Bytecode including unnecessary null checks for safe calls where left-hand side is non-nullableKT-41510Compilation of kotlin html DSL is still too slowKT-48211We spend a lot of time in ExpectActual declaration checker when there is very small amount of actual/expect declarationKT-39054Optimize delegated properties which call get/set on the given KProperty instance on JVMKT-46615Don’t generate nullability assertions in methods for directly invoked lambdasMore…
