A naukri.com initiative
Fb
7d
79
Image Credit: Fb
Translating Java to Kotlin at Scale
- Meta has been on a years-long undertaking to translate our entire Android codebase from Java to Kotlin.
- To leverage the full value of Kotlin, Meta decided to take roughly ten million lines of Java code and rewrite them in Kotlin.
- The benefits of translating virtually all of the code include maximizing gains in developer productivity and null safety, and minimizing the drawbacks of a mixed codebase.
- At first, they clicked the IntelliJ IDE button for translation repeatedly but later, they built their own infrastructure—the Kotlinator – to automate the conversion process.
- The Kotlinator is sophisticated enough to handle most compatibility changes required in external files.
- To become null-safe, the code needs to be checked by a static analyzer such as Nullsafe or NullAway.
- There are other ways to break your code during conversion—such as confusing initialization with getters and nullable booleans—besides regressing null safety.
- At this point, more than half of Meta’s Android Java code has been translated to Kotlin, and still going.
- Meta is hoping to contribute to J2K and also help other companies translating their Android codebases.
- Come chat with them and others in the #j2k channel of the Kotlinlang Slack.
Read Full Article
4 Likes
For uninterrupted reading, download the app