Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers SE Radio 682: Duncan McGregor and Nat Pryce on Refactoring from Java to Kotlin
15 snips
Aug 20, 2025 
Duncan McGregor and Nat Pryce, seasoned software developers and co-authors of the Refactoring Guidebook, share their insights on transitioning from Java to Kotlin. They discuss Kotlin's superior interoperability with Java, emphasizing a gradual adoption strategy. The duo highlights key benefits like enhanced type safety and immutability, while also addressing various challenges faced during refactoring. Additionally, they explore the role of AI tools in simplifying this complex process and enhancing collaboration within development teams.
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Adopt Kotlin Incrementally
- Add Kotlin to a Java build and start writing small Kotlin pieces immediately to get benefits.
- Gradually expand Kotlin usage instead of performing a big-bang rewrite.
Kotlin Encourages Safer, Functional Style
- Kotlin's type system and terser syntax shift developers toward more compositional, statically-checked code.
- That makes functional-style and immutability easier and reduces reflection usage.
Real Projects Benefited From Kotlin
- Duncan and Nat deployed Kotlin in real projects and kept production stability by incrementally updating the build.
- They removed hundreds of lines per domain model by using Kotlin data classes and transformations.
