Understanding types

Previously, we stated that Kotlin is a type-safe language. Now, let’s delve into a Kotlin-type system and compare it to what Java offers.

Basic types

In some languages, a distinction is made between primitive types and objects. Java, for instance, has the int type for primitive values and Integer for objects. The former is more memory-efficient, while the latter is more expressive due to its support for null values and additional methods.

However, Kotlin does not make such a distinction between primitives and objects as Java does. From a developer’s perspective, all types in Kotlin are treated equally, and you typically do not deal with primitives directly, which is a significant departure from Java. In Java, you often need to consider whether you are working with primitives or objects when writing code.

Nonetheless, this difference does not imply that Kotlin is less efficient than Java in this regard. The Kotlin compiler optimizes...