I’ve been learning Kotlin recently & I find it to be a beautiful Language. Does anyone at work use Kotlin that isn’t an Android developer?
Lots of people do, just look at all the server libs for kotlin.
Yes, I write SpringBoot microservices and IntelliJ plugins using Kotlin. Any new code is Kotlin, but there is still a ton of Java, which I don’t consider “legacy”, since it works, and if I can sanely add Kotlin when necessary, I don’t see the need for “full rewrite”.
You may get more traction by asking the Kotlin community
Legacy code is just code inherited from developers that are no longer around. It’s quality has nothing to do with its age.
Last job, we started writing mixing bits of Kotlin in an otherwise mostly-Java in a monolithic Spring-based service. Good experience.
I retired now, but I still write code for my blog. I totally prefer to write with Kotlin. Java just feels clunky to me now.
maybe? I know I dont have the balls to suggest our enterprise sw migrate to kotlin. I love the language but I think getting management to make such a drastic change can be hazardous if it turns out to cause unexpected bugs that lose millions of dollars :( such is the life of a java programmer
assuming you propose the idea to migrate to kotlin, it would go something like this:
- talk to your other developers and see if they feel the same way. get other developer buy-in
- propose the idea to management with reasons why it would be beneficial
- management now either buys in and approves kotlin usage, or says it’s not worth it
if management says yes, you now have like 20 people who have vetted and agreed with the idea. once you start writing Kotlin it’s not like EVERYTHING is all of the sudden Kotlin. it’s an iterative process, and hopefully you have test coverage. you can even re-use your existing java tests since the languages are interoperable. Assuming you follow a normal development process, the odds of a catastrophic bug coming out of nowhere to cause millions of dollars of losses wouldn’t even cross my mind.
that being said, assuming the current code works decently well, management will have no motivation or reason to approve a total rewrite in a new language. it’s more likely that they will only approve starting to trickle in kotlin for new projects or features, which even further reduces the likelihood of a catastrophic bug happening.
