In this new edition of the Kotlin digest, we’re bringing you the most exciting news and updates from July and August.
KotlinConf 2024 tickets are now available!
KotlinConf is bringing the Kotlin community together for the fifth time on May 22–24, 2024, at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark! There will be workshops, talks, networking opportunities, expo booths, and other fun activities. Learn more in our blog post and book your tickets to take part in the biggest Kotlin event around.
You can win a trip to KotlinConf 2024 in the Kotlin Multiplatform Contest!
Seize this opportunity to practice your multiplatform coding skills by taking part in the Kotlin Multiplatform Contest. Create a cross-platform project in Kotlin, and if your entry takes one of the top three spots, you’ll win a trip to the biggest Kotlin event of the year! For more information about the contest, check out this blog post.
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Compose Multiplatform 1.5.0 release
Compose Multiplatform 1.5.0 is out! This release builds on top of Jetpack Compose 1.5, which was focused on performance improvements. Here are some of the highlights:
- Option to use Dialog, Popup, and WindowInsets APIs in common code.
- iOS-like scrolling physics.
- Improved resource management on iOS.
- Test framework stabilization for Desktop.
Read this blog post to learn about these and other improvements.
Try Compose Multiplatform 1.5.0
The performance of Compose Multiplatform apps is one of our key priorities. We would appreciate it if you could test Compose Multiplatform in your projects targeting iOS and share information about any performance issues that you encounter. Your help will allow us to make sure the technology meets the true performance needs of your projects.
Update on the name of Kotlin Multiplatform
From now on, “Kotlin Multiplatform” (KMP) is the preferred term when referring to the Kotlin technology for sharing code, regardless of the combination of platforms being discussed. We are deprecating the “Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile” (KMM) product name to resolve long-standing issues of term inconsistency and abbreviation confusion. Please adopt the name “Kotlin Multiplatform” (KMP) in your existing and future content and libraries.
Try the K2 compiler in your Android projects
There’s some great news for Jetpack Compose users! Google has released version 1.5.0 of the Jetpack Compose Compiler plugin, which is compatible with Kotlin 1.9.0 and includes experimental support for the K2 compiler. K2 is now in Beta for the JVM, and your feedback is crucial at this stage of development. We want to ensure that the K2 Compiler aligns perfectly with the needs of your Android projects.
The Kotlin Foundation announced Grants Program winners
In July, the Kotlin Foundation Ecosystem Committee announced the winners of the first round of its Grants Program. Out of 109 applications, the committee selected the five winners:
- Coil – an image loading library for Android backed by Kotlin coroutines.
- Store – a Kotlin Multiplatform library for building network-resilient applications.
- http4k – a functional toolkit for Kotlin HTTP applications.
- KMP-NativeCoroutines – a library for using Kotlin coroutines from Swift code in KMP apps.
- Lyricist – an internationalization and localization multiplatform library for Compose.
Harnessing the power of the Kotlin DSL for documentation
Discover how the JetBrains team is using Kotlin to create a DSL for writing documentation. By leveraging Kotlin’s strengths and IDE support, along with the inherent extensibility of the DSL, the team made documentation a dynamic, integrated part of the development process.
Exposed moving forward
Exposed, a lightweight SQL library on top of a JDBC driver for the Kotlin language, is taking a significant leap forward. The growing usage of the library has led us to hire full-time developers and a technical lead. We’ll continue working on making Exposed a first-class product. Learn more about our upcoming plans in the blog post.
Koding in Kotlin
If you missed the latest episodes of our streaming series Koding in Kotlin, the recordings are now available for you to enjoy! Pasha Finkelshteyn, a Developer Advocate at JetBrains, dives into Kotlin and game development, embracing every misstep and triumph along the way.
