I have a class like this
class Square(var width: Int, var height: Int) {
var color : String = "red"
}
As my understanding Kotlin's compiler will consider width, height and color are properties of class Square and therefore it will generate setter and getter for these properties automatically.
With property color, i guess the getter and setter of it should be liked this
var color : String = "red"
get() = field
set(value) { field = value}
But how about the default setter and getter of the width and height properties. These properties don't have initialization values so they can't have "field" identifier in the getter and setter. Does anyone know the answer?
Properties placed in the header of a class declaration are a convenience if you need to store simple properties in a class, and you want to initialize them through constructor arguments with the same names. If you use these, you give up the ability to give them custom setters and getters - this can only be done for properties in the body of the class.
Otherwise, the default implementation of their getters (and setters for vars) are the same as for properties in the class body. They just return (and set) the value of the backing field.
Edit, following up on the comments above: this also means that the properties in the constructor always have to be initialized, they can't be computed properties, since you can't give them getters and setters that wouldn't use their backing field.
Related
The following kotlin code
val nameHash get() = name.hashCode()
can be compiled into java as follows
public final int getNameHash() {
return name.hashCode();
}
and the property nameHash disapears.
However when the val is changed to var, the compiler says "Property must be initialized"
What is the deeper difference between var and val?
How does kotlin compiler know whether a val should be a property or a function
As far as the Kotlin language is concerned, val denotes properties, never functions. However, there is a difference between these two property declarations:
val nameHash get() = name.hashCode()
var nameHash get() = name.hashCode()
And that is that the first property does not have a backing field. Properties with backing fields must be initialised one way or another, for example:
var nameHash = 0 // for example
get() = name.hashCode()
And this is why your code with var didn't compile.
If you are asking for the situations when a backing field is generated for a Kotlin property, they are listed in the spec:
However, the backing field is created for a property only in the
following cases
A property has no custom accessors;
A property has a default accessor;
A property has a custom accessor, and it uses field property;
A mutable property has a custom getter or setter, but not both.
These are the cases where your property needs a backing field. Your var nameHash satisfies that last case, because it is a "mutable property". If you use val instead, it is not a mutable property anymore and doesn't satisfy any of those cases.
Intuitively, a mutable property without setter needs a backing field because one must need to be able to set the property. How can you set it when it has no setter? Well, the Kotlin compiler solves the problem by generating a backing field and just sets the backing field instead.
Property is a functions set() & get(). Read-only properties implement only the get() function, but still, it's a function, so everything written in the property will be executed every time it's called.
In Kotlin, keywords: val is the same as the read-only property, meaning it's required to implement only get() function. When you put var keyword, compiler expects you to implement both get() & set() functions.
So, compile error there because your property missing set() function that is usually needed to store a value (or as the compiler says: must be initialized).
The error message is a little confusing in this case. The difference between val and var is that val means there is a getter while var means there is a getter and a setter. To fix your code you need to add an implementation for the setter:
var nameHash
get() = name.hashCode()
set(hash: Int) { ... }
Although, in this case I don't think it makes too much sense. We can't set the hash code value of the name.
What's field, value in the getter and setter boilerplate. I am currently doing a crash course on Kotlin, I really didn't understand the significance and usage of the keywords "field" and "value" in Kotlin.
If you declare variable e.g var x = 0 Kotlin implicitly generate it's getter and setter. Unlike Java you have to explicitly add getter setter.
var counter = 0
set(value) {
if (value >= 0)
field = value
}
The word field is backing fields and it is used to hold property value(counter) in memory. If you do not add your custom getter setter Kotlin implicitly generate it.
Let's say I have a Kotlin class Dog with two properties weight and weightInKgs
class Dog(val weight: Double) {
// property without initializing works. Why?
val weightinKgs: Double
get() = weight/ 2.2;
}
The above code runs without errors. I know that every property in Kotlin must be initialized so why does defining a getter without initializing the property work? Secondly, when val is changed to var for weightInKgs, it produces an error asking for initialization. How does changing it to var break the code?
class Dog(val weight: Double) {
// well its doesn't work now.
var weightinKgs: Double
get() = weight/ 2.2;
}
Every property with a backing field must be initialized. A property has a backing field if any of the following is true:
You initialize the backing field at the declaration site using =.
It has a custom getter or setter that references field.
It uses the implicit getter or setter, which implicitly uses field.
Otherwise, it does not have a backing field.
If there is no backing field used by the getter and/or setter, there is no need to initialize one. Your first code block has a custom getter that doesn't use field.
In your second code block, you have a var and it's using the implicit setter, which uses the backing field, so the backing field must be initialized.
If it's not obvious, get() is a function that calculates a value (weight / 2.2) every time you call it. It's basically the equivalent to this
fun getWeightInKgs(): Double {
return weight / 2.2
}
So that's why it doesn't have a backing field, it's not actually storing a value. But Kotlin presents these kinds of getX() functions (and set, is etc) as properties, and encourages you to use property access syntax, so dog.weightInKgs instead of dog.getWeightInKgs(). Kinda hiding the specific implementation details
If you didn't want to calculate the weight every time, and just wanted to do it once, then you'd just do
val weightInKgs = weight / 2.2
and then it would have a backing field, because that value has to be stored somewhere. You could also have a getter function that refers to a private val or var and returns the value of that, instead of giving the property itself a backing field, but if you ever need to do that kind of thing you'll probably understand why you would! That's usually for when your getter and/or setter is doing something a bit more complicated than just hiding or validating an internal data value
Im new to Kotlin and wonder what does the get() = login_email.txt.toString() do?
Does it set email String?
get() and set(value) after a field means the declaration of a custom getter and/or setter. Here's a basic example using default values:
class Demo{
var something: String
get() = field
set(value) {
field = value;
}
constructor(something: String){
this.something = something;
}
}
These two are, however, redundant. You don't actually need them unless you're doing something custom with it. They're automatically added for vars, though that only applies to getters for vals (because they can't be changed, they don't have setters).
The line you were asking about is a custom getter.
get() // declares a custom getter
= // if you don't know how this works, see my explanation below
login_email.text.toString() // you should be familiar with this part already; gets the string value of the field
If you're not familiar with the syntax, this is the equivalent without =:
get(){
return login_email.text.toString()
}
if you have a single return, you can replace the brackets and return keyword with =. If it helps you remember, just remember the alternative to using = (a body + the return keyword)
TL;DR: it declares a custom setter that returns the value of a TextView/EditText (not sure which it is, you didn't include that in the question)
In your case, you're using a custom getter or setter to handle property data. The fields themselves don't actually contain any data, but you have getters for a different object.
Take this as an example:
class Demo(private val someObject: MyCustomObjectWithSomeData){
val text: String
get() = someObject.text
... same for other stuff. Could also have setters, if the properties are mutable
}
Here the object is private, but it could be public or internal for that matter.
Kotlin supports quite a lot with custom getters. For an instance, you can declare a field to display specific fields of a private variable. For an instance, in your case, you have the email. It doesn't need to be a variable, since you have a custom getter, and the field isn't initialized. If you change var email to a val, you can make it non-null:
val email: String
get() = login_email.text.toString()
That also helps with null-safety.
And for the error field, it's slightly more complicated. It can't be a val because you declare a custom setter, but if you add a getter, you can make it non-null:
var error: String
get() = login_error.text.toString()
set(value){
login_error.text = value;
}
Short Answer
get() is used to define a custom getter method. Anytime you access the property you are using the custom getter method
Long Answer
So before we can talk about get(), it is important that we get a proper understanding of what properties actually are.
Properties
We all know that in object oriented programming the main idea of a class is to encapsulate data and code that works on data in a single class. In a language like Java (don't worry we will get back to Kotlin soon), the data of a class is stored in private fields, we then use accessor method (getters and setters) to access the data. In Java the combination of accessor methods and a field is called a property
Now in Kotlin does things a little differently, it entirely replaces the traditional idea of defining accessor methods and fields. By using the val or var keyword Kotlin will automatically generate the corresponding field and appropriate accessor methods for us.
get()
There will come a time when either your code or someone else's code needs a more robust solution to the automatic accessor methods created by Kotlin. This is where get() and set() come into play. By using get() you are defining your own custom accessor method(getter for get()) to be used when you are accessing this property.
I would also like to point out that since val is immutable it does not allow you to define a set() method, only a get()
Official Ref says the default Visibility Modifier is public.
But from koan data classes it can be inferred that it is private.
Is it a contradiction? What is the default Visibility Modifier of property in kotlin?
---------The above is the initial question---------------
I didn't mix property and field up. But I did have confusion on how property is accessed.
To resolve my confusion, I actually should have asked the new question in edited title.
Self-answered below.
The default visibility for properties (and functions and classes, and...) is indeed public.
The Koan is a little confusing, because the Java class has private fields with public getters.
A property can be seen as the combination of field, a getter and an optional setter. The property in the Koan has a private backing field and a public getter.
If you for example write
val age = person.age
then Kotlin will basically generate a getAge() method of the Person class, that will be called internally. This method returns the field itself.
It's also possible to add behavior to that getter. You can find more info in that in the documentation.
It's therefore not a contradiction, but a different concept.
What it the default Visibility Modifier for properties in kotlin?
It is public, as the docs say
Why are the fields not private
In this example the fields are immutable, so there are no setters defined automatically. The data class automatically has getters, and uses them, but it simplifies reading the code by not requiring them to be manually called.
Worked example
This code:
object X {
data class Example(val a: String, val b: String)
#JvmStatic
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
val e = Example("a", "b")
println(e.a)
println(e.b)
}
}
The main method of this compiles to this (with checks and metadata removed):
public static final void main(String[] args) {
X.Example e = new X.Example("a", "b");
String var2 = e.getA();
System.out.println(e.getA());
var2 = e.getB();
System.out.println(var2);
}
(Decompiled using IntelliJ IDEA)
Property encapsulates backing field by defintion. Backing field is directly assigned only when being initialized. All accesses except initialization are done through accessors.
So the private modifier on field in Java is no longer needed in Kotlin.
And the public on getter and setter in Java is placed on property(actually, still for getter and setter) in Kotlin.
Therefore the omitted modifier is public and not private.