i’m a big fan of never using lateinit

# getting-started

[Ryan]

i’m a big fan of never using lateinit

[Michael de Kaste]

There are some exceptions that there is no workaround, especially in Java library conversion usage in kotlins, but mostly yes

[Mike]

Why is that?

[Ryan]

because the “by” operator exists.

[Joel]

@Michael de Kaste is correct - when you are interacting with Java libraries there are points where you must behave like Java. I've found that JPA/Hibernate entities are much easier to write using lateinit var because that is how the underlying mechanics of the framework operate.

[Joel]

Within kotlin I would not use lateinit as there is always a more kotlin-ish way to write your code.

[Tom Hermann]

I use it in tests for reflection based runners (like Spring's) with annotations like @MockBean

Usually I try to avoid it, but it is there if you really need it.

[Tom Hermann]

Tangent: !! In production code is what drives me crazy 🤪

[Ryan]

There are no rules when writing tests 🙂