A modern programming language that makes developers happier.

kotlinlang

are there any plans to allow a constructor for some class `MyClass` to return `MyClass?`
that is, a constructor that can fail in ways that don't involve throwing exceptions?
as a trivial example, a `class NonZeroInt(n: Int)` that returns null if constructed with `n = 0`.

(I'm aware that I can do this with a `companion object`)

the object itself is constructed by the JVM, then the constructor is called; it can either return void (allowing the new object to be used) or throw. so any "constructor" that wants to `return null` would have to not go through a Java-compatible constructor pattern

and IMO we already have that pattern in Kotlin, with top-level functions named after the class itself

(or `operator fun Companion.invoke()`, which you mentioned)

thanks!
and I was actually unaware that top-level functions were idiomatic here.