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name: kotlin-coding-standards description: Master Kotlin coding standards with null safety, coroutines, and idiomatic patterns. Use when developing JVM/Android applications requiring type-safe async programming.

Kotlin Coding Standards

Level 1: Quick Reference

Null Safety Cheat Sheet

// Safe Call (?.) - Returns null if receiver is null
val length = user?.name?.length

// Elvis Operator (?:) - Provides default value
val name = user?.name ?: "Unknown"

// Not-Null Assertion (!!) - Throws NPE if null (avoid!)
val length = user!!.name!!.length

// Safe Cast (as?) - Returns null on cast failure
val employee = person as? Employee

Scope Functions

Function	Context	Returns	Use Case
let	it	Lambda result	Null checks, transforms
apply	this	Receiver	Object configuration
also	it	Receiver	Side effects, logging
run	this	Lambda result	Object config + compute
with	this	Lambda result	Grouping calls

// let - transform or null check
user?.let { println("Name: ${it.name}") }

// apply - configure object
val user = User().apply {
    name = "Alice"
    email = "alice@example.com"
}

Core Patterns

// Data Classes - auto equals, hashCode, toString, copy
data class User(val id: String, val name: String, val email: String)

// Sealed Classes - restricted hierarchies
sealed class Result<out T> {
    data class Success<T>(val data: T) : Result<T>()
    data class Error(val message: String) : Result<Nothing>()
    object Loading : Result<Nothing>()
}

// Extension Functions - add to existing classes
fun String.isValidEmail(): Boolean =
    android.util.Patterns.EMAIL_ADDRESS.matcher(this).matches()

Essential Checklist

• Use nullable types (?) instead of !! operator
• Prefer immutable (val) over mutable (var)
• Use data classes for DTOs
• Sealed classes for state management
• Configure detekt + ktlint
• Avoid platform types from Java interop

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Level 2: Implementation Guide

1. Null Safety Patterns

Smart Casts - Compiler tracks null checks:

fun processUser(user: User?) {
    if (user != null) {
        // Smart cast to User
        println(user.name)
    }
}

// Early return pattern
fun getUserName(user: User?): String {
    user ?: return "Unknown"
    return user.name  // Smart cast after check
}

Initialization Patterns:

// lateinit - for non-nullable late init (Android views, DI)
private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

// Check if initialized
if (::binding.isInitialized) { /* use binding */ }

// lazy - thread-safe initialization on first access
private val database: AppDatabase by lazy {
    Room.databaseBuilder(context, AppDatabase::class.java, "db").build()
}

2. Coroutines Essentials

Suspend Functions:

suspend fun fetchUser(id: String): User {
    return withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
        apiService.getUser(id)
    }
}

Coroutine Builders:

// launch - fire and forget
CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch {
    val users = apiService.getUsers()
    database.insertAll(users)
}

// async - return deferred result
suspend fun getUserWithDetails(id: String): UserDetails = coroutineScope {
    val user = async { apiService.getUser(id) }
    val posts = async { apiService.getUserPosts(id) }
    UserDetails(user.await(), posts.await())
}

Flow Basics:

// Cold flow - emits on collection
fun getUsers(): Flow<List<User>> = database.getUsersFlow()

// Transform flows
fun getActiveUsers(): Flow<List<User>> = database.getUsersFlow()
    .map { users -> users.filter { it.isActive } }
    .distinctUntilChanged()

// StateFlow - hot flow with current value
private val _uiState = MutableStateFlow<UiState>(UiState.Loading)
val uiState: StateFlow<UiState> = _uiState.asStateFlow()

3. Collections & Functional Programming

// Transformation
val names = users.map { it.name }
val pairs = users.flatMap { user -> user.emails.map { user to it } }

// Filtering
val active = users.filter { it.isActive }
val (admins, regular) = users.partition { it.isAdmin }

// Aggregation
val count = users.count { it.isActive }
val total = orders.sumOf { it.amount }

// Grouping
val byRole = users.groupBy { it.role }

// Sequences - lazy evaluation for large collections
val result = users.asSequence()
    .filter { it.isActive }
    .map { it.name.uppercase() }
    .take(10)
    .toList()

4. Delegation Patterns

// Property delegation - observable
var name: String by Delegates.observable("Unknown") { _, old, new ->
    println("Changed from $old to $new")
}

// Custom delegate
class StringPreference(
    private val prefs: SharedPreferences,
    private val key: String,
    private val default: String
) : ReadWriteProperty<Any?, String> {
    override fun getValue(thisRef: Any?, property: KProperty<*>): String =
        prefs.getString(key, default) ?: default

    override fun setValue(thisRef: Any?, property: KProperty<*>, value: String) {
        prefs.edit().putString(key, value).apply()
    }
}

// Class delegation - composition over inheritance
class UserService(logger: Logger) : Logger by logger {
    fun createUser(name: String) {
        log("Creating user: $name")
    }
}

5. Java Interoperability

// Platform types - make nullability explicit
val safeName: String = javaObject.getName() ?: "Unknown"

// JvmStatic - static methods for Java
companion object {
    @JvmStatic
    fun isBlank(value: String?): Boolean = value.isNullOrBlank()
}

// JvmOverloads - default parameters for Java
class User @JvmOverloads constructor(
    val name: String,
    val email: String = "",
    val age: Int = 0
)

// Checked exceptions
@Throws(IOException::class)
fun readFile(path: String): String = File(path).readText()

6. Testing Quick Start

@Test
fun `getUser returns user from API`() = runTest {
    // Given
    val userId = "123"
    val expectedUser = User(userId, "Alice")
    coEvery { mockApi.getUser(userId) } returns expectedUser

    // When
    val result = repository.getUser(userId)

    // Then
    assertEquals(expectedUser, result)
    coVerify(exactly = 1) { mockApi.getUser(userId) }
}

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Level 3: Deep Dive Resources

Documentation

• Kotlin Language Reference
• Kotlin Coroutines Guide
• Kotlin Style Guide

Tools

• Detekt - Static code analysis
• ktlint - Code formatter
• MockK - Mocking library
• Turbine - Flow testing

Extended Reference

See REFERENCE.md for:

• Complete coroutine patterns (StateFlow, SharedFlow, structured concurrency)
• Advanced delegation patterns
• Comprehensive testing examples (JUnit 5, MockK, Flow testing)
• Static analysis configuration
• Custom lint rules
• Spring Boot integration patterns

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Last updated: 2025-01-01