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.
Attempt the brand new compiler
With Kotlin 1.9, K2 is now obtainable in Beta for JVM targets, together with Android tasks. To assist stabilize the brand new compiler and be sure you’re prepared for Kotlin 2.0, we encourage you to strive compiling your tasks with the brand new compiler. In case you run into any points, you’ll be able to report them on the Kotlin problem tracker.
To strive the brand new compiler, replace to Kotlin 1.9 and add the next to your venture’s gradle.properties file:
kotlin.experimental.tryK2=true
Word that the brand new compiler shouldn’t be used for manufacturing builds but. strategy for making an attempt it early is to create a separate department in your venture 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 can even should 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 appropriate 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. Word that any customized lint guidelines that depend on APIs from the outdated frontend must be up to date to make use of the evaluation API as a substitute.
Including K2 assist in different instruments continues to be in progress: KSP and KAPT duties at the moment fall again to utilizing the outdated compiler when constructing your venture with K2.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 would possibly end in some discrepancies between the code evaluation of the IDE and command line builds in sure edge instances.
In case you use any extra compiler plugins, test their documentation to see whether or not they’re appropriate with K2 but.
Get began with the K2 compiler at the moment
The Kotlin 2.0 Compiler provides vital enhancements that will help you ship updates sooner, be extra productive, and spend extra time specializing in what makes your app distinctive.
It already works with Jetpack Compose and we’ve a roadmap to enhance assist in different instruments, together with Android Studio, KSP, and compiler plugins. Now is a superb time to strive it in your app’s codebase and supply suggestions associated to Kotlin, Compose, or Lint.
