I looked for current videos about Amper, nothing. It didn’t seem to be a topic in the KotlinConf, there is no promotion of it, and I couldn’t find a roadmap. Instead, I saw a video about “declarative Gradle”. Honestly, this feels like a step back, basically it’s a “nicer Maven”:
So, is Amper being sidetracked, is it destined to be buried in the Toolchain project instead of being used stand-alone? How serious is the declarative Gradle plugin, why does it compete with Amper?
My understanding is that Amper is part of the Kotlin Toolchain now, which means it’s getting more attention, not less. The KotlinConf talks are trickling out slowly, so I’d hold off on making conclusions until they’re all out.
Personally, Declarative Gradle seems interesting, but also feels unnecessarily restrictive (I find being able to use logic in my build scripts incredibly helpful actually).
Amper is the Kotlin Toolchain. Amper was renamed, and it was one of the main topics of the keynote etc. They’re hoping it becomes more popular once it’s installed everywhere by default.
I personally believe Declarative Gradle is a better path forward than the Kotlin Toolchain, but that’s obviously not the opinion of JetBrains (according to the Gradle blog posts, JetBrains has had access to the prototypes).
The relevant KotlinConf talk is finally online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S19BE4Xvyrs