Kotlin - what's the reasoning behind "const"

Question

It has been already clarified what's the difference between val and const val here.

But my question is, why we should use const keyword? There is no difference from the generated Java code perspective.

This Kotlin code:

class Application

private val testVal = "example"

private const val testConst = "another example"

Generates:

public final class ApplicationKt
{
    private static final String testVal = "example";
    private static final String testConst = "another example";
}

Answer 1

It's not always the same generated code.

If testVal and testConst were public, the generated code wouldn't be the same. testVal would be private with a public get, whereas testConst would be public, without any getter. So const avoids generating a getter.