Programming Scala, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. Zero to Sixty: Introducing Scala

Let’s start with a brief look at why you should give Scala a serious look. Then we’ll dive in and write some code.

Why Scala?

Scala is a language that addresses the needs of the modern software developer. It is a statically typed, mixed-paradigm, JVM language with a succinct, elegant, and flexible syntax, a sophisticated type system, and idioms that promote scalability from small, interpreted scripts to large, sophisticated applications. That’s a mouthful, so let’s look at each of those ideas in more detail:

A JVM and JavaScript language

Scala exploits the performance and optimizations of the JVM, as well as the rich ecosystem of tools and libraries built around Java. But it’s not limited to the JVM! Scala.js is an experimental port to JavaScript.

Statically typed

Scala embraces static typing as a tool for creating robust applications. It fixes many of the flaws of Java’s type system and it uses type inference to eliminate much of the typing boilerplate.

Mixed paradigm—object-oriented programming

Scala fully supports object-oriented programming (OOP). Scala improves Java’s object model with the addition of traits, a clean way of implementing types using mixin composition. In Scala, everything really is an object, even numeric types.

Mixed paradigm—functional programming

Scala fully supports functional programming (FP). FP has emerged as the best tool for thinking about problems of concurrency, Big Data, and general code correctness. ...