Proposal: Allow `inner object` On several instance...

# language-proposals

[Ruckus]

Proposal: Allow inner object
On several instances I've come across a situation where I have code like:

class Parent {
    val child: Child = Child()

    inner class Child
}

Where it would be preferable to have:

class Parent {
    inner object Child
}

The main advantage I'm looking for (other than readability) is locality:
- Every Parent has in instance of Child
- Child is a well defined type
- You cannot create new instances of Child with something like parent.Child()

[SiebelsTim]

What about this?

class Parent {
  val child = object { ... }
}

[Ruckus]

That breaks the second point, that Child is a defined type

[karelpeeters]

I'd like this too, I've posted about this a couple of times in this channel before.

[karelpeeters]

My use case was a matrix transpose: https://kotlinlang.slack.com/archives/C0B9K7EP2/p1532126258000185

[SiebelsTim]

I didn't know that you cannot access functions or properties of the object outside of it. And I don't know why you can't.

Is that what you mean with being a well defined type?

[Hullaballoonatic]

I'm greatly in favor of this, but there may be the concern of consistency that objects within classes are always static

[Hullaballoonatic]

Haha @karelpeeters did you post about that when you were helping me design the matrix class i was working on?

[karelpeeters]

I did, but I ran into the use case before a couple of times as well.