Scala Language

Designed by MartinOdersky, Scala is a modern MultiParadigmProgrammingLanguage designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and TypeSafe way. It smoothly integrates features of ObjectOrientedProgramming and FunctionalProgramming languages.

• http://scala-lang.org/
• http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=163733 - "A Brief History of Scala" by Odersky
• http://www.artima.com/scalazine/articles/steps.html - "First Steps to Scala"
• http://www.artima.com/shop/forsale - "Programming in Scala" - the book - Pre-print PDF available.

Monads and Arrows have been implemented in ScalaLanguage - see http://lucdup.blogspot.com/2008/11/scala-monads-and-arrows.html

Book: ProgrammingScala Wampler and Payne ( OreillyAndAssociates )

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For a discussion on the nature of ScalaLanguage see http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/scala-not-functional/

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20101003 ChrisGarrod tried to put this into HelloWorldInManyProgrammingLanguages, but that page kept being reverted by computing-technology.derby.ac.uk. What a deterrent to editing! In my ten years at this wiki, this is the first time my changes been attacked by a robot. RecentChanges discourages me from participation here.

HelloWorld in Scala is discussed in several steps on this page: http://www.artima.com/scalazine/articles/steps.html

 println("Hello, world, from a script!")

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BridJay (BridJ) is a way for JavaLanguage and ScalaLanguage to make calls to CeeLanguage or CeePlusPlus code.

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Scala, it seems to me, is about making Java cleaner, while adding some functional concepts in the process. For example, instead of static methods on a class, you define a singleton object for the class.

    object HelloWorld {
      def main : Unit = println("Hello, world!") // This is a method, not a variable.  Variables are introduced with var.
    }

This is different from the static-method-on-class model because it makes an actual, first-class object.

    class MyList?[+T](first : T, rest : MyList?[T]) {// Constructors look like ordinary closures.  Very clean!  Even C++ doesn't have initialization this clean!
      //         ^---------- Note: type variance of T is covariant.
      def foreach(op : T => Unit) : Unit = { // Higher-order foreach function.
                                      // Just like HaskelLanguage?s a -> ().  Foreach's type in Haskel would be written as ml a -> (a -> ()) -> ().
        op(first)
        rest.foreach(op)
      }
    }
    // The above is not actually the important part, otherwise I would have introduced a lot more features there.
    object MyNil? extends MyList?[Nothing] { // Nothing is the BottomType.
      override def foreach(op : Any => Unit) = () // Do nothing at last list instance.
                                                  // (Oh, Any is the TopType.)
    }
    /* Roughly equivalent to:
    val MyNil? = new MyList?[Nothing] {
      override def foreach(op : Any => Unit) = ()
    }
    However, you can declare objects which are also classes, to get static members.
    Also, you can make those objects-of-classes functor objects.
    This means you can use the factory pattern without actually appearing to use it!
    */
    MyList?(1, MyList?(2, MyList?(3, Nil))) foreach print // Demonstration of Scala's flexible syntax: infix methods.
                                                       // Operators like +, -, *, and / are actually parsed as infix methods.
                                                       // Oh, and functions are first-class.

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CategoryProgrammingLanguage CategoryFunctionalProgramming CategoryMultiparadigm