RecyclerView is flexible and efficient version of ListView. It is an container for rendering larger data set of views that can be recycled and scrolled very efficiently.

data class Student(
    val name: String,
    val id: Int,
    val age: Int,
    val address: String
)

import android.view.LayoutInflater
import android.view.View
import android.view.ViewGroup
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.DiffUtil
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.item_layout.view.*

class StudentAdapter :
    RecyclerView.Adapter<StudentAdapter.StudentViewHolder>() {

    private val studentList: ArrayList<Student> = ArrayList<Student>()

    override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): StudentViewHolder {
        val view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.context).inflate(R.layout.item_layout, parent, false)
        return StudentViewHolder(view)
    }

    override fun onBindViewHolder(viewholder: StudentViewHolder, position: Int) {
        val student = studentList[position]
        viewholder.setData(student)
    }

    override fun getItemCount(): Int {
        return studentList.size
    }

    fun updateData(newStudentList: List<Student>) {
        studentList.clear() 
        studentList.addAll(newStudentList)
    }


    class StudentViewHolder(private val itemView: View) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(itemView) {

        fun setData(student: Student) {
            itemView.apply {
                tvName.text = student.name
                tvAge.text = "${student.age}"
                tvAddress.text = student.address
            }
        }
    }

}

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_main.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    private var studentList = ArrayList<Student>()

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
        buildData()
        setAdapter()
    }

    private fun buildData() {
        for (i in 1..100) {
            val student = Student("Lloyd-$i", i, 26, "Jayanagar 4th Block-$i Bangalore")
            studentList.add(student)
        }
    }

    private fun setAdapter() {
        val linearLayoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(this)
        val studentAdapter = StudentAdapter()
        recyclerView.apply {
            adapter = studentAdapter
            layoutManager = linearLayoutManager
            studentAdapter.updateData(studentList)
        }

    }
}

studentAdapter.updateData(studentList)

studentAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();

import androidx.recyclerview.widget.DiffUtil

class DiffUtilCallBack(
    private val oldStudentsList: List<Student>,
    private val newStudentList: List<Student>
) : DiffUtil.Callback() {

    override fun getOldListSize(): Int {
        return oldStudentsList.size
    }

    override fun getNewListSize(): Int {
        return newStudentList.size
    }

    /**
     * Checks if the items are same based on a key value i.e here considering id is unique
     */
    override fun areItemsTheSame(oldItemPosition: Int, newItemPosition: Int): Boolean {
        return oldStudentsList[oldItemPosition].id == newStudentList[newItemPosition].id
    }

    /**
     * This is called if the areItemsTheSame returns true and checks if other contents are the same
     */
    override fun areContentsTheSame(oldItemPosition: Int, newItemPosition: Int): Boolean {
        return oldStudentsList[oldItemPosition] == newStudentList[newItemPosition]
    }
    
    /**
    * If areItemTheSame return true and areContentsTheSame returns false DiffUtil calls this method to get a payload about the change.
    */
    override fun getChangePayload(oldItemPosition: Int, newItemPosition: Int): Any? {
        return super.getChangePayload(oldItemPosition, newItemPosition)
    }
}

    fun updateData(newStudentList: List<Student>) {
        val diffUtilCallBack = DiffUtilCallBack(studentList, newStudentList)
        val diffResult = DiffUtil.calculateDiff(diffUtilCallBack)
        studentList.clear() // clear the old student list
        studentList.addAll(newStudentList) // update the old list with new List
        diffResult.dispatchUpdatesTo(this)
    }