I know this is so you can chain ifNotNull and otherwise, but the signature looks odd nonetheless. The signature of ifNotNull is a bit odd since it runs a block that returns nothing and ifNotNull returns the raw object on which it is called instead. In a more functional style, functions are chained and return transformed values at each stage. Kotlin ways of handling null Secure Access Operation val dialog : Dialog Dialog () dialog. This is why it is so important to know how to properly use it. This characteristic undoubtedly represents one of the coolest, most beautiful, and innovative features coming with the Kotlin programming language. As mentioned above, the block does something and returns nothing. Kotlin supports this possibility since its first release, and it is called null safety. I also think your functions are not very 'functional' because they carry their action strictly by side effects. Another advantage is that you can use an if-else either to just run a code block that does something and returns nothing like your functions do, or you can instead use if-else as an expression and return some value. It's just easier to read a plain if-else than other Kotlin solutions, such as this solution using the elvis operator.

See furthermore this linked answer from another question.

The answer is to just use a plain if-else in such cases. There is this stackoverflow question: How to run code if object is null? I like answer a lot, which is that basically that the functions you wrote are not necessary.

Kotlin is null