A modern programming language that makes developers happier.

kotlinlang

Sure, `kotlin/jvm/internal/Reflection.function` equips the method reference with reflection capabilities, i.e. to introspect the referenced method. It's not called for function literal expressions because a function literal does not reference any particular useful symbol of the program which you may need to introspect. This call should be cheap, currently it only creates 2-3 objects I think. Also if a method reference is passed to an inline function taking a parameter of a function type, it all gets inlined so Reflection.function is not called