Our teams now view Gradle Kotlin DSL as the default for starting new projects using Gradle, preferring it over Groovy. Teams already using Groovy should consider migration. Kotlin provides better support for refactoring and simpler editing in IDEs, and our teams report that it produces code that is easier to read and maintain. Given some IDEs now support migration, it should be relatively quick to experiment with replacing existing Groovy. In some situations Kotlin might be slower than Groovy; however, for many projects, this is unlikely to impact the team.
Previously, we blipped about the Android Gradle plugin Kotlin DSL, or Gradle Kotlin DSL, which added support for Kotlin Script as an alternative to Groovy for Android projects using Gradle build scripts. The goal of replacing Groovy with Kotlin is to provide better support for refactoring and simpler editing in IDEs and, ultimately, to produce code that is easier to read and maintain. For teams already using Kotlin, it also means working on the build in a familiar language. We now suggest trialing Kotlin DSL as an alternative language to Groovy for Gradle projects in general, especially if you have large or complex Gradle build scripts. Many IDEs now include support for the migration of existing projects. Some caveats remain, and we suggest checking the documentation for the most up-to-date details, including the prerequisites. We had a team with an at least seven-year-old, 450-line build script migrate successfully within a few days.
Android Gradle plugin Kotlin DSL added support for Kotlin Script as an alternative to Groovy for Gradle build scripts. The goal of replacing Groovy with Kotlin is to provide better support for refactoring and simpler editing in IDEs as well as ultimately to produce code that is easier to read and maintain. For teams already using Kotlin it also means working on the build in a familiar language. We had a team with an at least seven-year-old 450-line build script migrate within a few days. If you have large or complex gradle build scripts, then it's worth assessing whether Kotlin Script will produce better outcomes for your teams.
