Top Books Every Kotlin Developer Must Read

Hello! 🙂 If you are constantly working on your craftsmanship and you are looking for the best books for Kotlin developers, then you have come to the right place.

In this, always up-to-date list I have prepared top books that will bring your game to the next level and will make your Kotlin projects a place you will come back to with pleasure.

Note: some of the books in this list are affiliate links. If you purchase this book, I’ll get a small fee for that.
To be clear: this affects the merits of this article in no way.

So without any further ado, let’s take a look at our list.

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

I am pretty sure there is not a single programmer in the world who hasn’t heard about the “Clean Code” by Robert. C Martin. And there is a reason for that- this book is simply a must-have regardless of whether you are working with Kotlin or any other programming language.

But the Clean Code is not only about the way you structure or write your code. This book provides a comprehensive answer to why a clean code is the key to the success of every project and company, and why its lack can bring a development organization to its knees.

It is divided into three parts:

• The first part teaches the basic rules and methods for writing neat and efficient code.
• The second one shows real-life examples, starting from simple ones and getting more complex. It’s like solving puzzles but with coding. You learn how to fix messy code and make it work well.
• The third part is like the grand finale. It gathers all the lessons from the examples and gives you a list of tips and common mistakes to avoid. It’s like having a cheat sheet for writing and understanding clean code.

After reading this book, you will never look at your projects the same way again- no matter if they will be written in Kotlin or any other language.

And given the fundamentals it covers, I simply had to put it in the first place.

The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers

As the next item on our list of books for Kotlin developers, we can find (again) a book written by Robert C. Martin. This time, I would like to introduce you to The Clean Coder– a code of conduct for professional programmers.

And although the title seems to be pretty similar to the previous position, please don’t let it fool you.

The Clean Code is more technical and focuses on improving the quality of code through various programming principles and practices. It primarily emphasizes writing clean, maintainable, and readable code.

The Clean Coder, on the other hand, is an excellent supplement that addresses the broader aspects of software development. This book is packed with practical advice including communication, time management, ethics, continuous learning, etc.

And I believe the hard decision to make here is not which of these two should you read, but rather which one should you read first. And trust me, both approaches will be OK.

Clean Architecture: A Craftsman’s Guide to Software Structure and Design

Wait a minute.

I promised you a list of the top books for Kotlin programmers and this is the next item on the list that obviously is not about Kotlin itself.

But why?

Well, becoming a true Kotlin craftsman requires you to reach beyond the language-specific nuances. It is the art of understanding how your decisions affect not only the code, or the project, but the whole company, or institution you are working for.

It is the art of getting better at making these decisions, and that’s why as the next position I would suggest reading the Clean Architecture by (again) Robert C. Martins.

And although the title may suggest that you should wait with this book until you are aspiring for the architect role, please don’t do that. Regardless of your experience, learning essential software design principles and understanding what’s really important will be beneficial to you and everyone you are working with.

And can be there something better, than a book packed with direct, no-nonsense solutions for the real challenges written by a guy with almost 50 years of experience?

I highly doubt so.

Kotlin in Action

As the next item on my books list I have something for Java developers- Kotlin in Action by Dmitry Jemerov and Svetlana Isakova.

Plenty of Java projects are either shifting to Kotlin or introducing it as their part nowadays. Maybe even you are a Java developer and have seen plenty of job postings with Kotlin as a nice to have in them.

If that’s the case, then this book is written with Java developers in mind and will be a great source of knowledge for you. It will quickly get you up to speed by using your existing knowledge.

Additionally, this book is written by the core Kotlin developers, so you can be pretty sure about the correctness of the things included in it.

Lastly, just beware that this book covers Kotlin 1.0, and although core things didn’t change too much, it may be missing some newer features.

But still, I wouldn’t say that this disqualifies this book nowadays.

Kotlin Design Patterns and Best Practices

How many times have you seen blog posts in which someone manually implements a singleton, or builder pattern in Kotlin?

Do you think this is still necessary?

Well, what I enjoy the most about this book is that it not only provides an in-depth explanation of the classical design patterns, such as Creational, Structural, and Behavioral families. But what’s more important- it does it with Kotlin in mind.

Using Kotlin objects instead of custom-written singletons, named arguments instead of Builder patterns, and plenty of other tips in one place.

Moreover, it covers reactive and concurrent patterns, and finally, coroutines and structured concurrency to write performant, extensible, and maintainable code.

To sum up, you’re not gonna regret a cent spent on this position.

Summary

And this is all for the list of my personal top Kotlin books, which I believe every Kotlin programmer should read.

I hope you enjoyed it and if you are wondering whether this list is up-to-date, then yes, I am updating it regularly.

If you would like to share your feedback, then please feel free to do it in the comments section below or with the contact form.