Posted by Márton Braun, Developer Relations Engineer
The Kotlin compiler is being rewritten for Kotlin 2.0. The brand new compiler implementation–codenamed K2–brings with it vital construct velocity enhancements, compiling Kotlin code as much as twice as quick as the unique compiler. It additionally has a extra versatile structure that can allow the introduction of recent language options after 2.0.
Strive the brand new compiler
With Kotlin 1.9, K2 is now obtainable in Beta for JVM targets, together with Android initiatives. To assist stabilize the brand new compiler and be sure you’re prepared for Kotlin 2.0, we encourage you to strive compiling your initiatives with the brand new compiler. In the event you run into any points, you’ll be able to report them on the Kotlin difficulty tracker.
To strive the brand new compiler, replace to Kotlin 1.9 and add the next to your mission’s gradle.properties file:
kotlin.experimental.tryK2=true
Notice that the brand new compiler shouldn’t be used for manufacturing builds but. A great method for attempting it early is to create a separate department in your mission for compiling with K2. You could find an instance of this within the Now in Android repository.
Tooling assist
Plugins and instruments that rely upon the Kotlin compiler frontend may even must be up to date so as to add assist for K2. Some instruments have already got experimental assist for constructing with K2: the Jetpack Compose compiler plugin helps K2 beginning in 1.5.0, which is suitable with Kotlin 1.9.
Android Lint additionally helps K2 beginning in model 8.2.0-alpha12. To run Lint on K2, improve to this model and add android.lint.useK2Uast=true to your gradle.properties file. Notice that any customized lint guidelines that depend on APIs from the previous frontend should be up to date to make use of the evaluation API as an alternative.
Including K2 assist in different instruments remains to be in progress: KSP and KAPT duties at the moment fall again to utilizing the previous compiler when constructing your mission with K2. Nevertheless, compilation duties can nonetheless run utilizing K2 when these instruments are used.
Android Studio additionally depends on the Kotlin compiler for code evaluation. Till Android Studio has assist for K2, constructing with K2 may lead to some discrepancies between the code evaluation of the IDE and command line builds in sure edge circumstances.
In the event you use any extra compiler plugins, examine their documentation to see whether or not they’re suitable with K2 but.
Get began with the K2 compiler immediately
The Kotlin 2.0 Compiler presents vital enhancements that can assist you ship updates quicker, be extra productive, and spend extra time specializing in what makes your app distinctive.
It already works with Jetpack Compose and now we have a roadmap to enhance assist in different instruments, together with Android Studio, KSP, and compiler plugins. Now is a good time to strive it in your app’s codebase and supply suggestions associated to Kotlin, Compose, or Lint.
