What does the `lateinit` keyword do in Kotlin?

The lateinit keyword in Kotlin is specifically designed for use with non-nullable properties that cannot be initialized at the time of declaration and must be initialized later before they are accessed. This allows developers to declare properties with the promise that they will be initialized before they are used, thereby offering a way to work around the requirement for immediate initialization.

When you use lateinit, you can declare a mutable property without providing an initial value. This means developers can maintain a cleaner code structure without having to assign a default value that may not be meaningful. However, it does require that the property be initialized before any access occurs; otherwise, it will throw an UninitializedPropertyAccessException.

This ability to declare variables without initial values is particularly useful in Android development, where properties often depend on lifecycle events (like onCreate, onStart) for their initialization. Therefore, the option stating that lateinit allows a variable to be declared without initialization accurately captures the purpose and functionality of the lateinit keyword in Kotlin.