Kotlin's Latest: 15th Anniversary, AI Benchmark, and More
Recent updates and developer events in the Kotlin ecosystem
1Kotlin celebrates 15th anniversary
The Kotlin programming language is marking its 15th birthday. The community is invited to celebrate by creating birthday postcards and sharing photos. JetBrains encourages developers to share wishes and predictions for Kotlin's future. This event aims to honor the language's past achievements while setting goals for the coming years. Participants get to reflect on Kotlin's 15-year journey and contribute to shaping its next chapter through their submissions.
2RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 kicks off
RevenueCat is hosting a competition for building Kotlin Multiplatform apps. Running from August 1 to September 30, the event challenges developers to create applications for Android, iOS, desktop, or web. Participants will compete for the 'Ship Kotlin Everywhere' award using the KMP starter guide. Helping fellow developers earns bonus points in the competition. Registration is now open for this unique opportunity to showcase Kotlin skills while contributing to the community's growth.
3New AI coding benchmark for Kotlin
Kotlin has released its first official benchmark for AI coding assistants. The test comprises 105 real engineering tasks sourced from open-source Kotlin repositories. Developers can now compare AI agents based on resolution rates, token costs, and latency metrics. JetBrains developed this measurement tool to address AI's growing role in the Kotlin ecosystem. The benchmark provides Kotlin-specific criteria for evaluating different AI assistants' performance on practical coding challenges.
4Kotlin 2.4.10 and Beta releases
Kotlin 2.4.10 has been released with bug fixes, alongside the Kotlin 2.4.20-Beta2 version. The beta includes coroutine stack trace recovery, faster klib compilation, and expanded Swift export support. An experimental compiler native image feature is also available for testing. Developers can try the beta version and provide feedback to help shape the final release. These updates demonstrate JetBrains' commitment to continuously improving Kotlin's performance and capabilities.
5Kotlin support in BlueJ
Collaboration between JetBrains and King's College London has brought Kotlin support to BlueJ 6.0. Students can now write and run Kotlin code within BlueJ's familiar interface, inspecting class diagrams and interacting with objects. Ready-to-use teaching materials help educators incorporate Kotlin's concise syntax and null safety into introductory programming courses. This partnership aims to make Kotlin more accessible in computer science education worldwide.
6Golden Kodee awards recognize contributors
The inaugural Golden Kodee Community Awards honored five developers for contributions in education, online presence, creativity, and social impact. Winners include Matheus Leandro Ferreira, Jaewoong Eum, and Nicole Terc, who shared practical advice on community building and public learning. These awards highlight individuals who have significantly contributed to the Kotlin ecosystem's growth. Their stories inspire others to engage with and strengthen the developer community.
7X's Android app now 100% Kotlin
X (formerly Twitter) has completely rebuilt its Android app using Kotlin. X Chat employs Kotlin Multiplatform for end-to-end encryption across Android, iOS, and web. This transition represents a major milestone for Kotlin in large-scale application development. The complete rewrite demonstrates Kotlin's performance and reliability advantages. Developers can examine the technical details of this significant migration as a reference for their own projects.
8Kotlin ecosystem growth and future
As Kotlin turns 15, its ecosystem shows robust growth with over 4,100 KMP libraries and increasing enterprise adoption. JetBrains' LinkedIn plugin lets developers showcase their IDE experience. Community events and educational collaborations are building a strong foundation for Kotlin's next 15 years. The language's multiplatform capabilities continue to offer significant advantages in modern app development. These developments position Kotlin for sustained relevance in an evolving tech landscape.