Programming Scala, 2nd Edition

Chapter 23. Application Design

Until now, we’ve mostly discussed language features. The applications we’ve written have been very small, even in Chapter 18. That’s a very good thing. Drastic reduction in code size means all the problems of software development diminish in significance.

Not all applications can be small, however. This chapter considers the concerns of large applications. We’ll discuss a few language and API features that we haven’t covered yet, consider a few design patterns and idioms, and discuss architecture approaches, such as the notion of traits as modules and balancing object-oriented versus functional design techniques.

Recap of What We Already Know

Let’s recap a few of the concepts we’ve covered already that make small design problems easier to solve and thereby provide a stable foundation for applications.

Functional containers

Most of the book examples have been tiny in large part because we’ve used the concise, powerful combinators provided by collections and other containers. They allow us to implement logic with a minimum amount of code.

Types

Types enforce constraints. Ideally, they express as much information as possible about the behavior of our programs. For example, using Option can eliminate the use of nulls. See also Error handling strategies later in the list. Parameterized types and abstract type members are tools for abstraction and code reuse, such as the family polymorphism (or covariant specialization) example of a Reader abstraction ...