Kotlin in Action Paperback – 21 May 2024

The part 3 on concurrent programming with coroutines and flows alone make it worth paying for this book. Absolutely clear explanations teaching from absolute ground up. However they have not included chapters on channels, not sure why. Even if they decided not to include, they must at least have mentioned such a thing exists being an authoritative book on the language. Some of the previous chapters could have been much clearer I.e., chapter on Generics. Due to all these drawbacks I wanted to take a star away. But chapter 14 earns it all, hence retaining the 5 stars.

The motivation to learn a new programming language is primarily driven by the degree of relevance to the current and emerging types of problems it is expected to solve, the clarity of intent behind its design, and its ability to blend into the constantly evolving software ecosystem while delivering the promise of taking developer productivity up by a few notches. Further, aspects such as universality, expressiveness, brevity and elegance are areas of special interest in a language, whether human or machine oriented. Also, the language’s ability to tap into the wisdom of the lore in expressing new ideas can immensely enhance its value.The book gives you the sense of a very rewarding expedition right at the outset on all these counts, and the pedigree of the authors infuses the confidence that you are in safe hands.If you are a programmer coming from a prevalent language such Java, C# or Python, as you navigate the book chapter by chapter, it turns out to be an amazing journey as you ease through some familiar territory initially in Part 1, but gets more gripping as you progress into Part 2 covering more advanced features such as support for reflection, annotations, and operator overloading through destructuring declarations and delegated properties. DSLs assume special significance in the “no-code/low-code” context, and Kotlin’s support for them is neatly explained in sufficient detail. Part 3 on Concurrency, Coroutines and Flows is an area of Kotlin’s special focus, but is certainly not for those faint of heart. However, the authors’ attempt to make the concepts and Kotlin’s approach to them accessible to those venturing into the often uncharted territory is commendable.The book maintains all through the emphasis on Kotlin’s modern approach to both established programming needs and the demands arising out of the emerging breed of applications. This may not be your ideal book if you are interested in the use of Kotlin for specific problem domains such as building mobile applications.