Chapter 20. Blending OOP and FP: Comparing Java and Scala
This chapter covers
- An introduction to Scala
- How Java relates to Scala and vice versa
- How functions in Scala compare to Java
- Classes and traits
Scala is a programming language that mixes object-oriented and functional programming. It’s often seen as an alternative language to Java for programmers who want functional features in a statically typed programming language that runs on the JVM while keeping a Java feel. Scala introduces many more features than Java: a more-sophisticated type system, type inference, pattern matching (as presented in chapter 19), constructs that define domain-specific languages simply, and so on. In addition, you can access all Java libraries within Scala code.