[e12e]

The strong point of kotlin is definitely that it's "java pseudocode" - it's what you'd have to write on a whiteboard to leave no questions about what was elided. Like data classes - in kotlin you write the attributes, but get setters and getters, so you could to validation on change or whatever you might need steers for beyond beans.

Given that; it's a pretty simple language - a lot like python or ruby, but with a touch more of syntax beurocracy.

If you only have some javascript, it would probably be best to learn it from a proper kotlin book - there's a few out/coming out - but I've not read them.

But if anyone took a typical "java as a first programming language"-book and shifted it to idiomatic kotlin, such a book would probably be a decent first programming book.

Note that I do agree somewhat with the comments about kotlin being lipstick on java's broken and strange single-inheritance oo, which leans more on Simula than Smalltalk. But I think the result is rather pretty. Maybe just because it manages to get rid of so much cruft from java ("Doctor it hurts when I do this." - "Then stop doing that.").

[had2makeanacct]

Okay thanks, maybe I'll go into it through Java.

[e12e]

To be clear: I believe kotlin is a much better language to start with than java (but then, java is a pretty awful language inmho). But I've yet to see or read/hear about any books for teaching programming through kotlin as a ~first programming language (while there are many for python, ruby, java etc - or even lisp/scheme).

I would probably rate kotlin as a better starting language than javascript, for that matter.

[had2makeanacct]

Wow that's a big one then, I wasn't a Computer Science student but I like tech. Tried to learn Java a couple years ago and gave up, decided to go with HTML/CSS on Codeacademy as baby steps and did Javascript from there. If Kotlin is easier than that I'll definitely try to learn it ASAP I'm really interested.