Kotlin’s compiler is clever enough to figure out on its own what is the return type of a function but this does not mean that we should over use it and here is why:
Help the compiler to help as
By adding a return type in a function we instruct the compiler to expect and force that type (by a compiler error). On the other hand if we allow the compiler to infer the type, if something changes in the function’s body and the return type is not the one intended by the author, the compiler will follow along thinking that we know what we are doing!
Help the reader [to help as]
We write something once but it gets read multiple times. So it is our responsibility to make it as readable, explicit and quick in the eye as we can. In every case that we omit a return type the reader of our code has to do the calculations and extract the type on her own which, depending on the complexity, will take time and effort. You might say that a few seconds is not a big deal but in comparison with the zero seconds of having a type it is a lot.
Also not all reading takes place in an IDE that provides hints and colorful help. Our PR reviewers will probably read out code directly from GitHub or GitLab. By making them change context to figure something out we break their flow and concentration.
So, when should we use it
Never! In my humble opinion the only valid place is in small (one line), private methods that either construct something, so the use of the constructor along side the = sign trick the mind:
or the return type is clearly obvious:
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