Constants in Kotlin — what's a recommended way to create them?

Question

How is it recommended to create constants in Kotlin? And what\'s the naming convention? I\'ve not found that in the documentation.

companion object {
    //1         


        

Answer 1

First of all, the naming convention in Kotlin for constants is the same than in java (e.g : MY_CONST_IN_UPPERCASE).

How should I create it ?

1. As a top level value (recommended)

You just have to put your const outside your class declaration.

Two possibilities : Declare your const in your class file (your const have a clear relation with your class)

private const val CONST_USED_BY_MY_CLASS = 1

class MyClass { 
    // I can use my const in my class body 
}

Create a dedicated constants.kt file where to store those global const (Here you want to use your const widely across your project) :

package com.project.constants
const val URL_PATH = "https:/"

Then you just have to import it where you need it :

import com.project.constants

MyClass {
    private fun foo() {
        val url = URL_PATH
        System.out.print(url) // https://
    }
}

2. Declare it in a companion object (or an object declaration)

This is much less cleaner because under the hood, when bytecode is generated, a useless object is created :

MyClass {
    companion object {
        private const val URL_PATH = "https://"
        const val PUBLIC_URL_PATH = "https://public" // Accessible in other project files via MyClass.PUBLIC_URL_PATH
    }
}

Even worse if you declare it as a val instead of a const (compiler will generate a useless object + a useless function) :

MyClass {
    companion object {
        val URL_PATH = "https://"
    }
}

Note :

In kotlin, const can just hold primitive types. If you want to pass a function to it, you need add the @JvmField annotation. At compile time, it will be transform as a public static final variable. But it's slower than with a primitive type. Try to avoid it.

@JvmField val foo = Foo()