Kotlin Variables
Hello, My name is Mansi. I have over 3 years of professional experience developing high-quality Android applications.
A variable refers to a memory location that stores some data.
You can declare variables in Kotlin using the val and var keywords.
val:
A variable declared with the val keyword is read-only (immutable). It cannot be reassigned after it is initialized.
val name = "Kotlin"
name = "Language" //Error: val can not be reassigned
It is similar to the final variable in Java.
var:
Variable declared using var keyword is mutable. It can be reassigned after it is initialized.
val name = "Kotlin"
name = "Language" //No error. It works
It is similar to regular variable in Java.
Type inference:
In Kotlin, it is not mandatory to explicitly specify the type of variable that you declare. The Kotlin compiler will automatically infer the type of the variable from the initialized section.
val name = "Kotlin" // type infered as "String"
val value = 100 //type infered as "Int"
You can also explicitly define the type of the variable.
val name: String = "Kotlin"
val value: Int = 100
Type of the variable declaration mandatory if you dont initialize the variable.
val name // Error: variable must either have a Type annotation or be initialized
name = "Kotlin"
You can also declare something like this.
val name: String //works
name = "Kotlin"
