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LetsGit.IT/Categories/Kotlin
Kotlinmedium

Interface delegation (`by`): what does it do and what is one limitation?

Tags
#kotlin#delegation#by#oop
Back to categoryPractice quiz

Answer

Interface delegation generates forwarding methods to a delegate object: `class X(private val d: Foo) : Foo by d`. It reduces boilerplate. Limitation: if you want to change behavior, you must explicitly override methods; it’s not “magic inheritance” and doesn’t intercept calls you didn’t override.

interface Logger { fun log(msg: String) }

class ConsoleLogger : Logger {
  override fun log(msg: String) = println(msg)
}

class Service(private val logger: Logger) : Logger by logger {
  fun work() = log("working")
}

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