Kotlin Tip #34: Prefer Inline Classes for Wrapping Primitive Types — 100 Kotlin Tips in 100 Days
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Tip #33: Using By Lazy For Efficient Property Initialization
An inline class in Kotlin is defined using the inline keyword before the class declaration. Its primary purpose is to wrap another type. At runtime, instances of an inline class are represented using the value of the type they are wrapping, which means the wrapping comes at no additional memory cost.
Here’s a simple illustration:
inline class Password(val value: String)The Password inline class wraps a String, but at runtime, it's merely a String—no extra object overhead. Yet, in your code, you treat it as a distinct type, which can significantly enhance readability and maintainability.
Inline classes in Kotlin offer several advantages, such as improving type safety, making code more readable, and maintaining efficiency. They help prevent confusion between different types of data that use the same underlying type, like strings or integers, by giving them specific names (e.g., Password or UserId) in your code. This makes it easier to understand what kind of data a function expects. Additionally, because inline classes are replaced by their actual value at runtime, they don’t make your application use more memory, ensuring your application stays efficient.
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Tip #35: Use Tailrec for Efficient Recursion
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