
Architecture in Kotlin
In Kotlin development, especially for Android applications or backend systems, choosing the right architecture is essential for building scalable, maintainable, and testable applications.
✅ Common Architectures in Kotlin
MVC (Model-View-Controller)
MVP (Model-View-Presenter)
MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)
Clean Architecture
Let's explore each in detail.
📌 1. MVC (Model-View-Controller)
MVC separates the application into three components:
Model: Manages data, business logic, and rules.
View: UI elements that display data and respond to user interactions.
Controller: Manages communication between the Model and View.
🔎 Example:
Model → Data class with logic.
View → Activity or Fragment in Android.
Controller → Acts as a middleman between View and Model.
✅ When to Use: Small applications or simple projects.
⚠️ Drawback: Can become complex when logic grows.
📌 2. MVP (Model-View-Presenter)
MVP is a refined version of MVC. It improves separation of concerns by introducing a Presenter that handles the presentation logic.
Model: Handles data and business logic.
View: Displays data and handles user interaction.
Presenter: Processes data from the Model and updates the View.
🔎 Example:
Presenter makes API calls, handles results, and passes data to the View.
View is passive and only displays data.
✅ When to Use: Medium-sized applications.
⚠️ Drawback: Risk of large Presenters if not managed correctly.
📌 3. MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)
MVVM is one of the most commonly used architectures in Android development using Kotlin.
Model: Represents the data and business logic.
View: UI elements like Activities, Fragments, or Composables.
ViewModel: Stores and manages UI-related data in a lifecycle-conscious way using LiveData or StateFlow.
🔎 Example:
class UserViewModel : ViewModel() { private val _user = MutableLiveData<User>() val user: LiveData<User> get() = _user fun (name: String, age: class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { private lateinit var viewModel: UserViewModel override fun (savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) viewModel = ViewModelProvider(this).get(UserViewModel::class.java) viewModel.user.observe(this) { user -> println("User: ${user.name}, Age: ${user.age}") } viewModel.updateUser("John", 30) }}
✅ When to Use: Recommended for Android apps.
⚠️ Drawback: May require additional setup for data binding and state management.
📌 4. Clean Architecture
Clean Architecture follows a layered approach, ensuring clear separation of concerns. It typically consists of:
Presentation Layer: UI elements (Activities, Fragments, Composables).
Domain Layer: Business logic and use cases.
Data Layer: Manages data sources (API, database).
🔎 Structure:
Presentation -> Domain -> Data
Entities: Core business objects.
Use Cases: Business logic processing.
Repository: Provides data by interacting with APIs or databases.
Data Source: Handles actual data fetching.
✅ When to Use: Large and scalable applications.
⚠️ Drawback: Can be overkill for small projects.
🚀 Conclusion
Choose MVC or MVP for small projects where simplicity is key.
Use MVVM for most Android applications.
Adopt Clean Architecture for large-scale, enterprise-level applications.