Performance of Kotlin Applications

The book "Performance of Kotlin Applications" is a comprehensive guide to creating fast, efficient, and scalable applications in the Kotlin language. The author, Alexey Petrov, shares practical optimization methods based on years of experience developing high-load systems.

What is this book about?

Unlike most textbooks that teach you to write "working code," this book focuses on how to make code fast. You will learn:

• How the Kotlin compiler and JIT compilation work in the context of the JVM;
• Profiling methods: from simple measurements to using professional tools (IntelliJ Profiler, YourKit, JFR);
• Memory management: garbage collection, leaks, allocation optimization;
• Performance specifics in Kotlin/Native and Kotlin/JS;
• Benchmarking and writing performance tests with JMH;
• Design patterns that affect speed (inline functions, value classes, Sequences vs Collections);
• Optimizing coroutines and asynchronous code.

Who is this book for?

• Java/Kotlin developers transitioning to Kotlin and wanting to avoid costly mistakes;
• Server application developers working with high loads;
• Mobile Android developers aiming to reduce power consumption and response time;
• Tech leads responsible for product architecture and SLAs.

What will you learn after reading?

• How to find bottlenecks in code using a profiler;
• Why some Kotlin constructs (e.g., lazy delegation) can be slower than they seem;
• How to properly use inline functions and reified types without losing performance;
• Secrets of configuring the garbage collector for Kotlin applications;
• How to write benchmarks that don't lie.

The book contains many real-world examples, performance graphs, and ready-made optimization recipes. The material is suitable for both JVM (Kotlin/JVM) and native platforms (Kotlin/Native).

"Performance is not a feature, but an inherent quality of a program. This book will help you embed it from the very first lines of code" — Alexey Petrov.