Best of Kotlin — February 2026

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    Video
    Avatar of awesome-codingAwesome·10w

    Java’s biggest upgrade in decades

    Java is introducing null safety through Project Valhalla after 22 years, using null-restricted value types to maintain backward compatibility. The project also brings value objects and generic specialization, allowing Java to achieve C-like performance while preserving object-oriented features. These changes eliminate pointer chasing and enable memory-efficient data structures without breaking existing codebases. Despite newer languages offering built-in null safety, Java remains dominant in enterprise systems, with over 90% of Fortune 500 companies relying on it for critical operations.

  2. 2
    Article
    Avatar of springSpring·9w

    Moving beyond Strings in Spring Data

    Spring Data 2026.0.0-M1 introduces type-safe property paths as an alternative to string-based property references in queries. String-based references lack compiler validation and IDE refactoring support, causing bugs that only surface at runtime. The new approach uses Java method references (e.g., TypedPropertyPath.of(Person::getFirstName)) and Kotlin property references with operator overloads, providing compile-time validation, IDE navigation, and refactoring safety. Existing string-based APIs remain fully supported; type-safe paths are strictly additive and can be adopted incrementally. Method references are introspected once and cached for performance.

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    Article
    Avatar of infoworldInfoWorld·10w

    JetBrains introduces Java to Kotlin converter for Visual Studio Code

    JetBrains has released a Java to Kotlin converter extension for Visual Studio Code, available on the VS Code Marketplace. The extension lets developers convert individual Java files to Kotlin via a context menu action, using the same conversion engine found in JetBrains IDEs combined with LLMs to produce idiomatic Kotlin output. It supports multiple LLM backends including GitHub Copilot, Ollama, and OpenRouter, and is designed to reduce manual effort when migrating legacy Java codebases or transitioning projects to Kotlin.

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