Introduction to Kotlin

Kotlin runs on the JVM (interoperable with existing Java code) but is far more concise: `val name = "Ada"` infers the type automatically, and semicolons are optional.

Kotlin distinguishes nullable from non-nullable types at the type level: `String` can never be null, but `String?` can — this catches an entire category of null-pointer bugs at compile time.

Kotlin is Google's recommended language for Android development, and increasingly used for backend services too, thanks to full Java interoperability.