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How to create an AWS Lambda function on Kotlin?

Does AWS Lambda functions provide support for Kotlin language? Currently Lambda function creation wizard don't contains Kotlin option in the runtime dropdown list:

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But there are Java 8 and different Node.js versions. Which platform is more appropriate for function written on Kotlin in context of AWS Lambda - JVM or Node.js? And which Kotlin frameworks can I use to write a Lambda function?

Solution

  • In Javaland, if you're putting a Kotlin program on a server you should make it a fat jar, so you can execute it on any JVM without having to worry about explicit support for Kotlin.

    Alternatively, if you don't want to pay the JVM startup costs for a AWS Lambda cold start you might look at using the Kotlin targeting the Node.js runtime instead of the JVM. But I'd take almost the exact same approach here: (trans)compile your Kotlin to Javascript on a build server, package up your (now) Javascripts + NPM modules and send that up to Lambda. This may or may not work depending on how much you wrote your code assuming Java packages...

    So, I think the answer to your question is two fold:

    1. How much do you care about the time a cold start takes? / how often will you be doing cold starts vs warmer requests?
    2. How much do you depend on Java stuff in your app?

    But in both cases you don't need explicit support for Kotlin, just the bytecode that your compile process generates (JVM, or Javascript/Node)