All classes in java extend Object. All classes in Kotlin extend Any. Why is that?

# getting-started

[Colton Idle]

All classes in java extend Object. All classes in Kotlin extend Any.

Why is that?

[nanodeath]

maybe to avoid confusion with object. maybe also because Kotlin is multiplatform and not every platform has Object

[Ruckus]

Also, something like List<Any> is a bit more intuitive than List<Object> imao.

[Shawn]

I interpreted this question to mean “why do all classes in Kotlin and Java inherit from a shared superclass”, and I found these interesting StackOverflow threads pertaining to C# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1583482/why-does-every-class-in-net-inherit-from-object/1583524#1583524

https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/157450/why-all-classes-in-net-globally-inherits-from-object-class

[nanodeath]

oh. I thought the question was why don't Kotlin classes extend the same class as Java classes.

[Shawn]

That very well might’ve been the original intent 😅 I just thought y’all might still be interested in those threads

[Shawn]

The fact that java.lang.Object isn’t cross-platform is probably the biggest reason though

[nanodeath]

maybe, but I'd be kinda impressed they were thinking that far ahead with Kotlin 1.0