The Mysterious World of Leap Years
Unraveling the Rules
A leap year is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs every four years, but with a twist. To qualify as a leap year, a year must be perfectly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending with 00). However, there’s a catch – a century year is only considered a leap year if it’s also divisible by 400.
Kotlin Program: A Leap Year Checker
Let’s dive into an example program in Kotlin that checks if a year is a leap year using an if-else statement. We’ll store the year 1900 in the variable “year”. Since 1900 is divisible by 4 and is a century year, it must also be divisible by 400 to qualify as a leap year. Unfortunately, 1900 doesn’t meet this criterion, so it’s not a leap year.
But what if we change the year to 2000? As it’s divisible by 4, a century year, and also divisible by 400, it indeed becomes a leap year. Similarly, if we change the year to 2012, it’s divisible by 4 and not a century year, making it a leap year. We don’t need to check if 2012 is divisible by 400 or not.
Java Code: A Leap Year Equivalent
Here’s the equivalent Java code to check if a year is a leap year:
Simplifying the Process with When Expressions
Let’s explore another Kotlin program that uses a when expression to check if a year is a leap year. This approach streamlines the process, making it more efficient.
When the year is divisible by 4, the program checks if it’s also divisible by 100. If so, it further checks if the year is divisible by 400 or not, returning true or false accordingly. If the year is not divisible by 100, it’s not a century year, and the program returns true. Finally, if the year is not divisible by 4, it returns false.
The Power of When Expressions
The when expression works like a charm, simplifying the leap year check process. By breaking down the rules into smaller, manageable chunks, we can easily determine if a year is a leap year or not. With this knowledge, we can write more efficient programs that accurately identify leap years.