About this Book
If I were to pick a language to use today other than Java, it would be Scala.
JAMES GOSLING
Congratulations for picking Scala as your next language. And if you are still undecided, please read the first chapter in this book, and I am sure that will change your mind.
The programming languages we use shape the way we think and how we solve programming issues. And when faced with new programming languages and paradigms we try to map them to the languages we know. I would discourage you from doing that when reading Scala in Action. Scala is a new programming language that brings myriad new ideas to the Java virtual machine platform.
Scala is unique. It is a multi-paradigm programming language that combines both functional and object-oriented languages. It has its own set of best practices and idioms and by the end of this book what you have learned will also be helpful in other programming languages.
Scala in Action has been updated to reflect the newest changes in Scala version 2.10.
This book is for all developers and hobbyists who like programming. Most of the concepts discussed can be easily absorbed without any knowledge of Java, but having a basic knowledge of Java is a definite plus. The book assumes that you are at least familiar with the JVM and its ecosystem. There are plenty of available resources for the JVM and its toolset that augment this book.