Kotlin takes null coalescing to the next level by allowing you to provide a default value if anywhere along the chain is null. Println(dog?.name?: 'a default name') // this works! it will print 'a default name' Println(dog!!.name) // This will compile, but throw an exception! Println(dog?.name) // This works! it will print null access the name property either dangerously or safely with This won't compile! dog is a nullable type, so you need Okay, so now we know that variables and values must be initialized with either an explicit nullable type or a non-nullable value, but what about if we have a nullable type, and try to do something with it? Let’s take a look! and is initialized with a string literal This works because the type is a non-nullable string This works! name is a nullable string and is initialized with so it MUST be initialized with a non-null value! this won't compile! name is NOT a nullable string, In Kotlin, your properties, return types, local variables or values, and everything else needs to be explicitly nullable – not just primitive types, but complex types like your own classes and interfaces too! Kotlin made the early decision to alleviate the pain of null checks in our code. The NullReferenceException and NullPointerException… The bane of many of our lives as developers… say “goodbye” in Kotlin! You can also join the conversation and test your knowledge throughout the course with learning checks through each module! If you like this series, be sure to check out my course on Pluralsight – Building Android Apps with Kotlin: Getting Started where you can learn more while building your own real-world application in Kotlin along the way. Java and some other programming languages to build Android apps (like C# and Xamarin or JavaScript/TypeScript for Hybrid implementations). We’ll also be drawing comparisons to how things are done in Kotlin vs. We’ll take a look at the basics of building Android apps with Kotlin from the SUPER basics, to the standard basics, to the not-so-basics. This “Android Kotlin Basics” blog series is all about fundamentals. Meadow.Tip – Playing Jingle Bells with a Piezo Speaker Using C#.Xamarin.Tip – Fixing Missing iOS App Icons.Xamarin.Tip – iOS Push Notification Device Token Extraction in iOS 13+.

Kotlin null safety