From Theory to Code: My Kotlin Journey. Part 1

ojubizimnitsuj — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:34:51 +0000

In my last post, I introduced my journey. Today , I'm following the https://kotlinlang.org/docs/home.html to write my very first lines of code.

The Entry point: fun main()

Every Kotlin program needs a "start" button. The official guide explains that the 'main' function is the mandatory entry point.

Making the code talk: println() vs print()

I experimented with the two output functions the guide introduces. Here's what I did to see how they differ:

println(): It prints the text and then moves to a new line.
print(): It prints the text but keeps the cursor on the same line.

A Quick Tip: No Notebook Needed!

Instead of grabbing a pen and paper to remember what println() does, I learned that I can take notes directly inside my code. The Kotlin SDK(and the playground) ignores these notes, so they don't break the program.
You can use two types of comments for my notes:

Single-line notes: Just add '//' and everything after it on that line is a note.
Multi-line notes: Wrap bigger notes between '/' and '/'.
Beyond being notes, those notes will make your program 'self documenting' and will be a great way to show your progress as a developer!

Here is the result:

Now it is your turn, feel free to share what you've done!

"The Procrastinator’s Guide to Learning Kotlin: A Low-Pressure Challenge"

ojubizimnitsuj — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 20:22:00 +0000

In this series I will try a challenge that helped me to improve my programing skills in some languages. The challenge is about practicing the programing language as little as possible but with a constant regularity following a book. Hope that might help others who like me have to fight against procrastination although their profound desire is to improve their programing skill.
This is going to be a challenge even if I myself have been exposed to programing in the past because for about 4 years I could not access a decent computer for programing, so this is like a fresh restart. Now if you feel it, follow my progress, not just by reading my post but by trying yourself.

You Need only two things

For this you will need to install 'android studio' or any other SDK where you can run Kotlin code or even use the online Kotlin SDK 'https://play.kotlinlang.org/'. You will also need to download or access online the official Kotlin reference guide. Here is the link 'https://kotlinlang.org/docs/kotlin-pdf.html'.

Now why Kotlin?

My reason is that I need to start android development very soon. If you do not prefer Kotlin or have an other language you want to learn, feel free to use that one. You can let me know in the comment which one you choose and why for this challenge.

Why the official reference guide?

Because a at some point in the programing world, you will not always have a book that explains you things from 'A to Z' and the only thing you might have at that time could only be the official reference guide as well as your AI tool, so it is best to get used to those guides.

Why not simply use AI?

The more you understand a language yourself the more efficient you will be in using the AI tools to achieve your goals as a developer.

I hope this will motivate you to start the challenge so let get started.

Forem: ojubizimnitsuj