JetBrains has launched Kotlin Basics, a free, beginner-level track that has extended the range of offerings in JetBrains Academy, its educational platform that teaches programming through interactive, project-based learning.

Kotlin, which marked its 10th anniversary this year, has seen a surge in popularity since it became the first choice language for Android Development. There's more to Kotlin than Android, however. As an object-oriented JVM language you can use it in any number of scenarios and it's also a fun language to learn if you know any other language because of its pragmatic approach to object oriented programming.

JetBrains Academy was launched in 2019 and we reported on it last year when while it was still an Early Access Program, see Learn To Code with JetBrains Academy. According to JetBrains over 360,00 students have learned programming with the paltform's holistic approach in which they are introduced to the necessary theory and are then required to put it into practice by creating fully functional applications.

As outlined by Nikos Vaggalis in his report last year courses included in JetBrains Academy offers a personalized study plan that is divided into several stages of increasing complexity. This allows students to gradually expand their knowledge without getting overwhelmed. Knowledge map shows how all the topics are connected at glance. Another feature is integration with JetBrains IDEs, which provides an opportunity to get experience with professional development tools while learning to program.

Introducing the new course, Nikolay Vyahhi, Project Lead at JetBrains Academy, says:

“Starting out is always a challenge, but the right approach to learning can smooth out the difficulties. We at JetBrains Academy believe in project-based learning, in which you study programming theory and apply your knowledge into practice by building working applications, one step at a time. We’re excited to bring this approach to our new Kotlin Basics track and help more students get new skills in the most effective and comfortable way.”

Kotlin Basics presents 10 interactive projects of different proficiency levels, 126 educational topics and more than 300 coding challenges. The total effort required to complete the entire track is estimated at 57, which JetBrains suggests is around 10 weeks if they study 5 hours a week. 

As with the existing Java, Python and Kotlin courses, the curriculum is project-based in that you learn the basics of the language not only by theory but by doing. Here's the outline of just one of the projects, at the Challenging level of difficulty

This project asks students to create a parking lot management program that keeps track of vacant spots and parked cars and has 5 stages:

Stage 1  - Display some simple examples of parking or picking up a car.
Stage 2 - Create a simple parking lot with two spots.
Stage 3 -  Your parking lot is now bigger, and it can take cars if there’s room and keep track of those that leave.
Stage 4 - Make it possible to specify the size of your parking lot and request the list of all parked cars.
Stage 5 - Filter cars by color or find your car by its registration number.

While the Kotlin Basics course is Free Forever, JetBrains Academy is a subscription service. An individual subscription costs $49.90 per month or $249.00 per annum. If you are tempted by the Kotlin Developer Track, intended for those beyond the Beginner Level, or the JetBrain's Academy's Java or Python tracks, there's currently an offer of up to 2 months of free trial for individuals. Simply registering (no credit card required) accesses 7 days free trial, completing the first stage of a project unlocks a month and completing a first project earns you a second month. 

The JetBrains Academy approach, not only to Kotlin but to Java Python, JavaScript and an expanding range of topics, seems an attractive way to learn and two months of free trial seems a generous offer to try it out.

• Mike James is the author of The Programmer's Guide To Kotlin, 2nd Edition (I/O Press), a book that explains to programmers the advantages that Kotlin offers and what makes it a fun language to learn and use.

More Information

JetBrains Academy

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