Developing an AWS Java Lambda function using Kotlin is possible because Kotlin is 100% compatible with Java. In this talk, attendees will learn how to implement the necessary AWS interfaces and classes to accept an incoming JSON request, return a JSON response and implement logging that integrates with AWS CloudWatch. Attendees will also learn how to package and deploy the lambda function to AWS. Comparisons will be made to Java to demonstrate how Kotlin makes developing an AWS Lambda function simpler and more concise. Attendees will leave this session with the knowledge necessary to develop their own AWS Lambda functions using Kotlin.

I am a long time Java developer who is now using Kotlin because I believe the concise syntax of Kotlin is very useful, readable and productive. This is especially true for typical/tedious boilerplate code. A key Kotlin benefit is that it is 100% compatible with Java. This makes it very suitable for tasks where Java is required. In the case of AWS Lambda functions, Kotlin makes developing them simpler and more concise due the syntactical conciseness of the language and the elimination of boilerplate code required by comparable Java implementations.

The GitHub repo for all of the demo code will be publicized and made available prior to the talk. To build and package the code, Java 8 SDK and Kotlin 1.2 need to be installed.

I previously presented this talk at Beer City Code 2018 in Grand Rapids, MI.