TL;DR I have created a script that would let you try out small snippet of Kotlin code from the terminal. So, you don't have to launch

intelliJ

to try out simple Kotlin code. I would like to know how you are trying out simple Kotlin code? Would you like to use the script? Or create one? One thing I love about interpreted languages line Python is being able to try out a code snippet directly from the command line. In Python, you can either use the interactive shell or save it in a

.py

file and run it using

python script.py

. However, when it comes to Kotlin the scenario is hugely different. Most of the times I have to launch

intelliJ

to understand the behaviour of a simple code. And launching an IDE is no joke. It takes a lot of time for starting and indexing. And if any extra dependency is needed we have to initialise a Gradle project for that. The web based Kotlin Playground is more convenient. But sadly we can't add any third party dependencies there. I have always wanted something that would allow us to run a

.kt

file from the command line. But I couldn't find something like that. But today I wrote a

python

script that allows me to run a Kotlin file from the command line. For example, Create a file with

.kt

extension and write some code in it.

// filename -> app.kt

fun main(){
    println("Hello, world")
}

Then in the terminal type this,

>> kotlin app.kt

Hello, world // the output

I would like to know how you are trying out small snippets of Kotlin code. Would you be interested in a tutorial that would show you how to create this kind of script? Let me know 🙂

Well you can run .kts file from cmdline as well kotlinc --script myFile.kts

@Big Chungus Wow! I wish I knew it earlier! Thank you so much 🤗🤗🤗 It's really cool.

Not trying to diminish your work here. Just wanted you to be aware of alternatives out there 😀

Had I known this earlier I wouldn't even have taken the pain to write the script 😅

what is the difference between

kotlinc —script

and just

kotlin

? I just use

kotlin

with no issues to run scripts

kotlinc --script works on all .kts files, kotlin requires .main.kts

FYI: there's ki shell that is pretty much jshell for kotlin https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlin-interactive-shell https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2021/04/ki-the-next-interactive-shell-for-kotlin/

I still think "ki shell" should be called "kshell" for all the Java converts among us...

alias kshell ki

🧌

@Big Chungus you have a typo in your first advice, it should be

kotlinc -script myFile.kts

with single dash

Ah, yes. Kotlin adopted those shitty java options instead of UNIX...

Lol I know, I was upset too 😄