Like many JVM languages such as Java, Scala, Groovy, etc, Kotlin supports OOP (Object Orientated Programming). OOP allows developers to create reusable and self-contained software modules known as classes where data and behavior are grouped together and contained within the said class. Such packaging allows developers to think in terms of components when solving a software problem and can improve code reuse and maintainability.
There are often four terminologies that are discussed when explaining OOP. The first term is encapsulation. Encapsulation refers to combining a programs data with the behaviors that operate on the said data. This is different than procedural based programming that treats data and behavior as two seperate concerns. However, encapsulation goes further than just simply grouping behavior and data. It also means that we protect our data inside of the class by only allowing the class itself to use the data. Other users of the class may only work on class data through the class’s public interface.
This takes us into the next concept of OOP, Abstraction. A well designed and encapsulated class functions as a black box. We may use the class, but we may only use it through it’s public interface. The details of how the class works internally are taken away from or Abstracted, from the clients of the class. A car is commonly used as an example of abstraction. We can drive the car using the steering wheel and the foot pedals, but we do not get into the internals of the car and fire the fuel injection at the right time. The car takes care of the details of making it move. We only operate it through its public interface. The details of how a car works are abstracted from us.
OOP promotes code reuse through inheritance. The basic idea is that we can use one class as a template for a more specialized version of a class. For example, we may have a class that represents a Truck. As time went on, we realized that we needed a four wheel drive truck. Rather than writing an entirely new class, we simply create a four wheel drive truck from the truck class. The four wheel drive truck inherits all of the computer code from the truck class, and the developer only needs to focus on code that makes it a four wheel drive truck. Such code reuse not only saves on typing, but it also helps to reduce debugging since developers are free to leverage already tested computer code.
Related to inheritence is polymorphism. Polymorphism is a word that means many-forms. For developers, this means that one object may act as if it were another object. Take the truck example above as an example. Since a four wheel drive truck inherited from truck, the four wheel drive truck may be used whenever the computer code expects a truck. Polymorphism goes a set further in allowing the program to act different depending on the context in which certain portions of computer code are used.
Koltin is a full fleged OOP language (although it does support other programming styles also). The language brings all of the OOP concepts discussed above to the fore-front by allowing us to write classes, abstract their interfaces, extend classes, and even use them in different situations depending on context. Let’s begin by looking at a very basic example of how to write and create a class in Kotlin.
package ch1
class Circle(
//Define data that gets associated with the class
private val xPos : Int = 20,
private val yPos : Int = 20,
private val radius : Int = 10){
//Define behavior that uses the data
override fun toString() : String =
"center = ($xPos, $yPos) and radius = $radius"
}
fun main(args: Array<String>){
val c = Circle() //Create a new circle
val d = Circle(10, 10, 20)
println( c.toString() ) //Call the toString() function on c
println( d.toString() ) //Call the toString() function on d
}
In the above program, we have a very basic example of a Kotlin class called Circle. The code inside of lines 3-12 tell the Kotlin compiler how to construct objects of Type Circle. The circle has three properties (data): xPos, yPos, and radius. It also has a function that uses the data: toString().
In the bottom half of the program, the main method creates two new circle objects (c and d). The circle c has the default values of 20, 20, and 10 for xPos, yPos, and radius because we used the no parenthesis constructor (). Lines 5-7 in the circle class tell the program to simply use 20, 20, and 10 as default values in this case. Circle d has different valeus for xPos, yPos, and radius because we supplied 10, 10, 20 to the constructor. Thus we have an example of polymorphism in this program because two different constructors were used depending on the program’s context.
When we print on lines 18 and 19, we get two different outputs. When we call c.toString(), we get the String “center = (20, 20) and radius = 10” printed to the console. Calling toString() on d results in “center = (10, 10) and radius = 20”. This works because both c and d are distinct objects in memory and each have there own values for xPos, yPos, and radius. The toString() function acts on each distinct object, and thus, the output of toString() reflects the state of each Circle object.
Stone Soup Programming 