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I consider myself very fortunate to be coding in Scala. I know of many Java developers who code Java at work and wish that they could land a Scala job.

JPKab 13y ago
Just curious: As someone who is teaching himself Clojure at the moment, what are the advantages of Scala over Clojure?
- kasey_junk 13y ago
  The type system.
  - jshen 13y ago
    He asked for advantages ;)
    - octo_t 13y ago
      The type system.
      - willismichael 13y ago
        "I’m not against types, but I don’t know of any type systems that aren’t a complete pain, so I still like dynamic typing." -Alan Kay
- terhechte 13y ago
  The way it combines functional programming with object oriented programming. This kinda gives you the best of both worlds (others may refer to it as 'frankensteinian' though).
- voidlogic 13y ago
  All the usual benchmark disclaimers apply, but Scala appears to compare pretty favourably in the Programming Language Shootout: http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=scala&lang2=clojure&data=u64q http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/benchmark.php?t... Generally Scala appears to use less time, less memory and less code. I have not ever used either so I cannot anecdotally confirm this.
- mercurial 13y ago
  The type system. Performance from benchmarks appears to be better. Also, I suppose that interaction with Java code is more natural, since Scala is a weird mix of object-oriented and functional languages. On the other hand, the compiler is extraordinarily slow.
- candybar 13y ago
  People have mentioned type system, performance and closer semantics equivalence with Java, but the real advantage in the wild is that Clojure's syntax (or lack thereof) is alienating to most people.
- gtani 13y ago
  Here's a clojure book author on that: http://s-expressions.com/2012/08/05/rathores-10th-rule-of-programming/ http://s-expressions.com/2012/08/05/rathores-10th-rule-of-pr...
- rz2k 13y ago
  One advantage is the Coursera class being taught by Martin Odersky[1] right now. [1] https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun (Though I suppose that is like saying you should only look for your lost keys under a street lamp)
pivo 13y ago
I've had only one project in Scala and in general I really liked the language. My biggest reservation about Scala though is what I consider the over-DSLy-ness of some of the Scala libraries (3rd party libraries). In my project different source files using different libraries could almost look like different languages due to the DSLs of the libraries those source files used. Maybe it's just my lack of experience with Scala, but I dislied this because I thought it reduced readability. Even worse is when two or more DSLs in use in the same source file conflict, for example, with their implicits. Then you may be stuck with different source files using the same library but with different syntax, one with the DSL syntax (where there were no conflicts) and one without. I suppose this is something you get used to with Scala, but I wonder if you've run into this and if so, what your reaction to it is?
- sbilstein 13y ago
  Luckily it seems like this is becoming a less common practice in library development in Scala. As the Scala community matures, people are starting to shy away from abusing Scala's DSL features.

JPKab 13y ago

Just curious: As someone who is teaching himself Clojure at the moment, what are the advantages of Scala over Clojure?

kasey_junk 13y ago
The type system.
- jshen 13y ago
  He asked for advantages ;)
  - octo_t 13y ago
    The type system.
    - willismichael 13y ago
      "I’m not against types, but I don’t know of any type systems that aren’t a complete pain, so I still like dynamic typing." -Alan Kay
terhechte 13y ago
The way it combines functional programming with object oriented programming. This kinda gives you the best of both worlds (others may refer to it as 'frankensteinian' though).
voidlogic 13y ago
All the usual benchmark disclaimers apply, but Scala appears to compare pretty favourably in the Programming Language Shootout: http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=scala&lang2=clojure&data=u64q http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/benchmark.php?t... Generally Scala appears to use less time, less memory and less code. I have not ever used either so I cannot anecdotally confirm this.
mercurial 13y ago
The type system. Performance from benchmarks appears to be better. Also, I suppose that interaction with Java code is more natural, since Scala is a weird mix of object-oriented and functional languages. On the other hand, the compiler is extraordinarily slow.
candybar 13y ago
People have mentioned type system, performance and closer semantics equivalence with Java, but the real advantage in the wild is that Clojure's syntax (or lack thereof) is alienating to most people.
gtani 13y ago
Here's a clojure book author on that: http://s-expressions.com/2012/08/05/rathores-10th-rule-of-programming/ http://s-expressions.com/2012/08/05/rathores-10th-rule-of-pr...
rz2k 13y ago
One advantage is the Coursera class being taught by Martin Odersky[1] right now. [1] https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun (Though I suppose that is like saying you should only look for your lost keys under a street lamp)

pivo 13y ago

I've had only one project in Scala and in general I really liked the language. My biggest reservation about Scala though is what I consider the over-DSLy-ness of some of the Scala libraries (3rd party libraries). In my project different source files using different libraries could almost look like different languages due to the DSLs of the libraries those source files used. Maybe it's just my lack of experience with Scala, but I dislied this because I thought it reduced readability. Even worse is when two or more DSLs in use in the same source file conflict, for example, with their implicits. Then you may be stuck with different source files using the same library but with different syntax, one with the DSL syntax (where there were no conflicts) and one without. I suppose this is something you get used to with Scala, but I wonder if you've run into this and if so, what your reaction to it is?

sbilstein 13y ago
Luckily it seems like this is becoming a less common practice in library development in Scala. As the Scala community matures, people are starting to shy away from abusing Scala's DSL features.