Scala Reactive Programming

Implicit conversions

Implicit conversions are used to convert an element from a type A to another type B, when the element is used in a place where B is expected. Let's check it with the following example:

scala> val num = 10 
num: Int = 10 
 
scala> val numInString = "20" 
numInString: String = 20 
 
scala> val result = num * numInString 
<console>:14: error: overloaded method value * with alternatives: 
  (x: Double)Double <and> 
  (x: Float)Float <and> 
  (x: Long)Long <and> 
  (x: Int)Int <and> 
  (x: Char)Int <and> 
  (x: Short)Int <and> 
  (x: Byte)Int 
 cannot be applied to (String) 
       val result = num * numInString 
                        ^ 
 
scala> implicit def str2Int(str:String) = str.toInt 
str2Int: (str: String)Int 
 
scala> val result = num * numInString 
result: Int = 200

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