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Coming soon: Kotlin Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide, Second Edition
**Updated on 10/5/21** The Kindle version of the book is now available on Amazon! We’ve updated this post to include the latest information about the book’s availability.
Back in 2018, we released the first edition of our Kotlin Programming guide. Since then, a lot has changed in the world of Kotlin programming. The language has continued to evolve at a steady pace, and we’ve seen more and more developers adopt the language as time goes on. We’re also seeing many developers that are interested in new tools like Coroutines and Kotlin Multiplatform.
To help you adopt the language in your own projects and learn about these more advanced features, we’re excited to announce the second edition of our popular guide to Kotlin programming. Read on to learn about what’s changing in this latest installation!
Kotlin 1.5 & IntelliJ 2021.2
Kotlin 1.5 introduced language features for unsigned numeric types and value classes (formerly called inline classes). There are also a number of quality of life improvements that have been introduced since our first Kotlin guide, like better type inference, when expressions with variable declarations, and improvements to the standard library. The second edition of our Kotlin programming guide incorporates these new features and will guide you through writing idiomatic Kotlin code. We’ve also updated our guide for the latest version of IntelliJ IDEA, which has also gotten some power-ups in its Kotlin editing features.
Whether you’re coming to Kotlin for the first time or are brushing up your skillset, we think you’ll love these new features.
Coroutines
The kotlinx.coroutines library has changed drastically since we teased it in the first edition of our Kotlin programming guide. Right off the bat, Coroutines have graduated from experimental to stable and have become widely adopted in many production codebases.
We’ve also seen the introduction and adoption of Channels and Flows, which build on top of Coroutines to allow parts of your application to communicate more easily. The book has three brand-new dedicated chapters for Coroutines, Channels, and Flows.
Kotlin Multiplatform
Although many people think of Kotlin as a replacement for Java, that doesn’t paint the full picture. Kotlin is a multiplatform language and comes in three flavors: Kotlin/JVM, Kotlin/Native, and Kotlin/JS.
The last part of the book will give you a taste of Kotlin Multiplatform. We will walk you through how to make a single project that compiles into a Java executable, a native macOS application, and a JavaScript script for use on the web.
If you’ve been looking for a way to share code between platforms, give Kotlin Multiplatform a shot. We think you’ll be surprised at how much it can do for you. And if you want to learn more about Kotlin Multiplatform, may we point you in the direction of a few other blog posts?
On Virtual Shelves Now
Whether you’re an Android developer who wants to use Google’s recommended programming language, a web developer who wants a concise alternative to Java, a developer looking to share code between apps on different platforms, a new programmer looking to learn a modern programming language, or anyone in between, Kotlin is a great choice. We hope that you pick up our Kotlin programming guide and enjoy working with the language as much as we do at Big Nerd Ranch.
The Kindle version for the second edition of Kotlin Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide is available now from Amazon and will be rolling out to other eBook retailers soon. Printed versions of the book are available for pre-order now and will ship in late October.
If you or your team would like the full Big Nerd Ranch experience, we offer instructor-led bootcamps where one of our expert instructors will teach you the Essentials of Kotlin. You can find more information on our books page. Also keep an eye on this blog and our social media for more updates from the Ranch.
Happy coding!
