# Orbit Multiplatform wins Kotlin Foundation Grant: A Journey and a Look Ahead

DevFeed: [Orbit Multiplatform wins Kotlin Foundation Grant: A Journey and a Look Ahead](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/orbit-multiplatform-wins-kotlin-foundation-grant-a-journey-and-a-look-ahead-27030.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://appmattus.medium.com/orbit-multiplatform-wins-kotlin-foundation-grant-a-journey-and-a-look-ahead-6b949cf8133e?source=rss-be40b368c57e------2>)

Author: Matthew Dolan

Published: 2024-10-02T13:30:16Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Stories by Matthew Dolan on Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/stories-by-matthew-dolan-on-medium.md>)

Topics: [Kotlin](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kotlin.md>), [multiplatform](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/multiplatform.md>), [Coroutines](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coroutines.md>), [Library](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/library.md>), [kotlin-coroutines](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kotlin-coroutines.md>), [Open Source](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/open-source.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [RxJava](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rxjava.md>), [reactive](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/reactive.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>)

Tags: [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [android-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android-app-development.md>), [coroutines](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coroutines.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [kotlin](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kotlin.md>), [kotlin-coroutines](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kotlin-coroutines.md>), [kotlin-multiplatform](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kotlin-multiplatform.md>), [multiplatform](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/multiplatform.md>), [mvi](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mvi.md>), [open-source](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source.md>), [orbit](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/orbit.md>), [reactive](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/reactive.md>), [rxjava](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rxjava.md>)

## AI overview

The article announces that the Kotlin Foundation awarded a grant to Orbit Multiplatform and reviews the open-source library's evolution. It describes Orbit 1's reactive, RxJava-inspired architecture and debugging and maintenance challenges, then explains the redesign leading to Orbit 2, including Kotlin coroutines, structured concurrency, composition, direct function calls, and a simplified DSL.

## Source excerpt

We're thrilled to announce that the Kotlin Foundation has awarded Orbit Multiplatform a grant! This recognition is a tremendous honour and a chance to reflect on Orbit's journey and share our vision for the future. Orbit's Origins Orbit began as an open-source project over five years ago, in September 2019. It was one of the first libraries I co-created with Mikołaj Leszczyński, and its development has been a journey of constant learning and evolution. The Early Days: Orbit 1 I first encountered Orbit when I joined the Android team at Babylon Health in July 2018. Mikołaj had already developed the initial version of Orbit, heavily inspired by RxJava and talks such as Jake Wharton's Managing The Reactive World with RxJava. RxJava's influence was evident in Orbit's reactive approach, with chained operations driving the architecture. However, while this design worked well in some cases, it posed significant challenges -- especially with debugging. For instance, one event could trigger multiple others, leading to hard-to-trace bugs. Additionally, we ran into issues with type erasure due to the use of generics, which made it even harder to maintain the library. Here's an example of the syntax from Orbit 1: data class State(val total: Int = 0) data class AddAction(val number: Int) class CalculatorMiddleware: Middleware<State, Unit> by middleware(State(), { perform("addition") .on<AddAction>() .withReducer { state, action -> state.copy(state.total + action.number) } }) While the initial approach was a valuable learning experience, it became clear that Orbit needed a shift. The Transition: Kotlin Coroutines and Orbit 2 In October 2018, Kotlin 1.3 introduced coroutines, offering an opportunity to rethink Orbit's architecture. Coroutines brought structured concurrency to Kotlin, making asynchronous programming more straightforward and less error-prone. However, it wasn't until May 2020 that we began redesigning Orbit's syntax to leverage coroutines. By August 2020, we released