Inline functions

You can think of inline functions as a copy/paste instruction for the compiler. Each time the compiler sees a call to a function marked with inline, it will replace the call with the concrete function body.

It makes sense to use the inline function only if it's a higher-order function that receives a lambda as one of its arguments:

inline fun doesntMakeSense(something: String) {
println(something)
}

This is the most common use case where you would like to use inline:

inline fun makesSense(block: () -> String) {
println("Before")
println(block())
println("After")
}

You call it as usual, with the block body:

makesSense{
"Inlining"
}

But if you view the bytecode, you'll see it's actually translated to the lines produces and not to a function call:

println("Before")
println("Inlining")
println("After")

In the actual code, you'll see the following:

String var1 = "Before"; <- Inline function call
System.out.println(var1);
var1 = "Inlining";
System.out.println(var1);
var1 = "After...