title: Why does starting a new Android activity in Kotlin require a Java class?
body: <p>If I want to start a new Activity in Android, I need to pass the Activity to an Intent. However, instead of just passing the Kotlin class like so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>val intent: Intent = Intent(this, SearchActivity::class)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I need to pass the Kotlin class as a Java class like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>val intent: Intent = Intent(this, SearchActivity::class.java)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Why do I need to add this extra identifier since my <code>SearchActivity</code> is a .kt file?</p>