LEARNING THE KOTLIN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE USING AN AUTOGRADING SYSTEM

Abstract

In modern curricula for Computer Science (CS) and Information Technology (IT), one of the more popular classes is mobile development. With the recent rise of the Kotlin programming language as a main contender for Android development, very few courses in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) exist which incorporate Kotlin as a main language. Furthermore, online courses which offer learning Kotlin are very limited, or require a high subscription price. More importantly, neither online, nor HEI courses offer an automatically graded system for student assignments in Kotlin. In this paper, a tool for learning for learning the Kotlin programming language with is presented which supports automatic grading of assignments. As the Kotlin language is itself designed to interoperate fully with Java, this tool, developed by the authors, is aimed at CS and IT students who have already have basic knowledge of Java (or similar) programming languages, and want to switch to mobile development. Our solution focuses on the development of an interactive course in Kotlin meant primarily for Java developers. The assignments in the course also compare certain approaches to a solution in Java and Kotlin side-by-side. The solution is developed as a web application, not needing a separate compiler, libraries or an integrated development environment. Furthermore, to compare our solution with commercially available ones, we point out the disadvantages of currently available Kotlin courses, such as the level of previous knowledge needed, or a need for a specific development environment