We aim to process data fast.  Kotlin is compiled on the fly (or native compilation is also possible), which allows it to be much faster than Python (unless C code is directly accessed).  Here are three examples: searching for 6bp palindromes; translating from DNA to protein; and complementing and reverse-complementing sequences.

​

When BioPython can rely on C code (e.g. complementation), BioKotlin is only 2.6-fold faster.  In other cases, BioKotlin is nearly two orders of magnitude faster.

​

BioKotlin also stores DNA sequences with only 2 bits per bp, which can save 4- to 8-fold on RAM with only modest performance losses.