Description: A sealed class in Kotlin is a type of class that restricts inheritance to a limited set of types. This means that it cannot be extended beyond the sealed class itself, providing stricter control over the class hierarchy. Sealed classes are useful for representing a fixed set of related types, allowing developers to more effectively handle variations of a particular type. By defining a class as sealed, it ensures that all subclasses are declared within the same file, making code management and understanding easier. This feature is especially valuable in situations where a design pattern like ‘state’ or ‘strategy’ needs to be implemented, requiring precise control over the instances that can be created. Additionally, sealed classes allow for better support for ‘when’ expressions, as the compiler can exhaustively check all possible subclasses, reducing the likelihood of runtime errors. In summary, sealed classes are a powerful tool in Kotlin that promotes type safety and clarity in code structure, facilitating the creation of more robust and maintainable software applications.
