Ask HN: Can Kotlin Native be a possible contender for Go on server side?

4 points by lostPoncho 8y ago ↗ HN

I recently came across Kotlin. I understand JetBrains is betting big on it by sponsoring development for native targets. Also, I find the learning curve for Kotlin to be lesser than Go. But can Kotlin Native give the same performance as Go?

3 comments

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Cieplak 8y ago ↗

If you're optimizing for performance, you might consider C++. That said, if you're building software that accepts untrusted user input, there's a learning curve for adhering to secure coding practices:

https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/BgE

marktangotango 8y ago ↗

The big open question I have about kotlin native is the gc story, i.e. How is it implemented? Neither boehms (libgc) or reference counting are adequate solutions imo. Last I knew go was in the process of moving to a generational gc, state of the art as in hotspot jvm.

Also, the multi process, thread, coroutine, async io scheduling story in go is very compelling. Java (and by association kotlin) has lots if async server frameworks, but seems doubtful you'd get that level of integration unless they target it.

riku_iki 8y ago ↗

Why regular JVM Kotlin is not good for this?