When should you use a computed getter and when a field inside an object returning another const/object? Real world use case:

public object GlobalScope : CoroutineScope {
    override val coroutineContext: CoroutineContext
        get() = EmptyCoroutineContext
}

Why is coroutineContext not a field?

override val coroutineContext = EmptyCoroutineContext

I don't know a clear answer, but I believe this shouldn't make much difference, especially within an

object

(where any potential saving on object size in memory would likely be insignificant)

My first thought would be the JVM might be able to optimize this better when coroutineContext is a

get()

function vs a field. Since there are no fields in

GlobalScope

, the JVM may be able to effectively inline the call at runtime to skip the

GlobalScope

class overhead and method call invocation entirely.

In general, it reduces the memory footprint of the object. So consistent style is not to make constant fields.

So you should prefer a getter/function over a field?

Unless you’ve got a specific reason for needing it as a field, yeah you’re probably better off preferring the getter

Thanks