I write this, to reemphasise the need for a superb language to have a superb REPL, and not the awful current REPL.
The REPL is a very important and useful component and it also gives the first impressions for the language.
It’s not practical the separate installation of Kotlin Interactive Shell, and the average user will not search for a better REPL.
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For the vistors stumbling into this thread: It is related to Kotlin REPL is still so incredibly bad! - #8 by medium
The best what you can do is to vote for this issue: Replace Kotlin REPL with Kotlin Language Interactive Shell
Does the average user use the REPL? I’ve never used it.
No, probably not, because you basically have to know where to find it. I’ve never seen a hint in the documentation and wondering how I ever discovered it. However, REPL are quite common tools in other programming languages like Scala, Python, Ruby etc. I guess, almost all python tutorial start with it.
Such a tool is very handy and the Kotlin community could profit from it.
Kotlin is not a scripting language, using a REPL is never going to be representative of what real Kotlin code looks like.
IMO the best way to learn is to create a Kotlin Scratch file in IDEA, it’s basically the Playground with the full power of IDEA.
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Honestly, this statement doesn’t makes much sense. What exactly is a “scripting language” and what is the relevant difference to Kotlin in terms of REPLs? The underlying compiler is the same as if you would write a file in IntelliJ and compile it with Gradle. Other statically typed languages like Java or Scala have shown that a REPL works fine for such languages.
I agree that Kotlin is heavily used as a scripting language, and is a powerful tool for all practitioners. Therefore the issue of replacing this terrible REPL is of utmost importance.