Merlin
Exploring Kotlin Through a Personal Venture
In late 2015, I dived into a personal project named Merlin, fuelled by my fascination with Kotlin after reading “Kotlin for Android Developers” by Antonio Leiva. This was a time when Kotlin was still in its alpha/beta stages, but its functional programming capabilities had me hooked. I developed Merlin, a simple app using the MVP pattern and Kotlin’s best practices. The app interacted with Reddit’s open API, specifically the Today I Learned subreddit.
Releasing Merlin was a journey of learning and exploration. It was my first attempt at independently launching an app, marketing it on platforms like Reddit, and even getting it featured on the Android App Arena podcast.
This experience taught me valuable lessons in user support and app marketing. Despite eventually shutting down Merlin, the project remains a significant milestone in my journey, marking my transition to Kotlin and a more in-depth understanding of app development dynamics.