Understanding Bound Callables in Kotlin

What Are Bound Callables in Kotlin?

Kotlin is a powerful and versatile programming language that is gaining traction with developers around the world. One of its features is bound callable references, which are function references used to refer to an instance of an object, such as a method or constructor.

A bound callable reference consists of three components: the class, the class instance, and the method or constructor. The reference refers to the specific method or constructor and the instance of the class it is called on. This means when the reference is used, the same method or constructor is always used regardless of the state of the instance.

For example, if you have a class called “Foo” and a method called “bar”, the bound callable reference for the method would be “Foo::bar”. This can be used anywhere that you want to call the “bar” method, regardless of what instance of “Foo” the method is being called on.

Bound callable references can be used to create closures and to simplify passing parameters when calling methods. They are also useful for implementing higher order functions. Overall, bound callable references can help make your code more efficient and reduce boilerplate code.