How Do Developers Use Type Inference: An Exploratory Study in Kotlin

TL;DR

This study investigates how Kotlin developers utilize type inference in real-world projects, revealing frequent use for local variables and insights for language design improvements.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale empirical analysis of type inference usage patterns in Kotlin, informing language design and tooling.

Findings

Type inference is often used for local variables.

Variables initialized with external method calls are more likely to use inference.

Results inform optimization of type inference algorithms.

Abstract

Statically typed languages offer numerous benefits to developers, such as improved code quality and reduced runtime errors, but they also require the overhead of manual type annotations. To mitigate this burden, language designers have started incorporating support for type inference, where the compiler infers the type of a variable based on its declaration/usage context. As a result, type annotations are optional in certain contexts, and developers are empowered to use type inference in these situations. However, the usage patterns of type annotations in languages that support type inference are unclear. These patterns can help provide evidence for further research in program comprehension, in language design, and for education. We conduct a large-scale empirical study using Boa, a tool for mining software repositories, to investigate when and where developers use type inference in 498,963 Kotlin projects. We choose Kotlin because it is the default language for Android development, one of the largest software marketplaces. Additionally, Kotlin has supported declaration-site optional type annotations from its initial release. Our findings reveal that type inference is frequently employed for local variables and variables initialized with method calls declared outside the file are more likely to use type inference. These results have significant implications for language designers, providing valuable insight into where to allow type inference and how to optimize type inference algorithms for maximum efficiency, ultimately improving the development experience for developers.