Kotlin Back-Tick escaping in method names: How does it work?

Question

In Kotlin, it's possible to name a method using back-ticks like this:

fun `i am a test method`(){
   Assert.assertEquals("x", "x")
}

The compiler generates a method with underscores instead of blanks: "i_am_a_test_method", which seems reasonable as the JVM does not permit methods with blanks afaik. How can Junit and/or Gradle report these tests with the back-ticked name though?

Answer 1

In a Java method descriptor , several characters have a special meaning, namely [ ( ) / and ; . The space doesn't have any special meaning, and therefore it can be used directly in a method name; that's exactly what the compiler does. The spaces are not converted to underscores.