Get started with Kotlin/JVM

Create a project

1. In IntelliJ IDEA, select File | New | Project.

2. In the panel on the left, select New Project.

3. Name the new project and change its location if necessary.

4. From the Language list, select Kotlin.

   

5. Select the IntelliJ build system. It's a native builder that doesn't require downloading additional artifacts.

   If you want to create a more complex project that needs further configuration, select Maven or Gradle. For Gradle, choose a language for the build script: Kotlin or Groovy.

6. From the JDK list, select the JDK that you want to use in your project.

   • If the JDK is installed on your computer, but not defined in the IDE, select Add JDK and specify the path to the JDK home directory.

   • If you don't have the necessary JDK on your computer, select Download JDK.

7. Enable the Add sample code option to create a file with a sample "Hello World!" application.

8. Click Create.

Create an application

1. Open the Main.kt file in src/main/kotlin.
   The src directory contains Kotlin source files and resources. The Main.kt file contains sample code that will print Hello World!.

   

2. Modify the code so that it requests your name and says Hello to you alone, and not to the whole world:

   • Introduce a local variable name with the keyword val. It will get its value from an input where you will enter your name – readln().

   • Use a string template by adding a dollar sign $ before this variable name directly in the text output like this – $name.

   fun main() { println("What's your name?") val name = readln() println("Hello, $name!") }

   

Run the application

Now the application is ready to run. The easiest way to do this is to click the green Run icon in the gutter and select Run 'MainKt'.

You can see the result in the Run tool window.

Enter your name and accept the greetings from your application!

Congratulations! You have just run your first Kotlin application.

What's next?

Once you've created this application, you can start to dive deeper into Kotlin syntax:

• Add sample code from Kotlin examples

• Install the JetBrains Academy plugin for IDEA and complete exercises from the Kotlin Koans course