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As a java Dev I have been watching Scala to see what people make of it. It seems like Scala is generally perceived as an academic exercise. We all want more p

by bootily 13y ago

As a java Dev I have been watching Scala to see what people make of it. It seems like Scala is generally perceived as an academic exercise. We all want more powerful tools and infinite expression but at what point are we bikeshedding languages instead of building transparently clear solutions? Scala seems to be solving problems i dont have.

jfb 13y ago
It seems more to me to be an academic exercise in compiler complexity that has been wrapped in a shell of "lookit! Java++" as a play for industry acceptance. I haven't been working with it for long, but I feel that there's a lot of interesting stuff that has become unusably complex because of the design decision to support toll-free Java interop. That makes me nervous.
kenbot 13y ago
There's a lot of "seems" going around from people who haven't used the language, or dynamic-typing folk who obviously aren't going to pick a language that bets the farm on static types. As a long-time Java dev myself, Scala is solving problems you don't even realise you have, because you don't know to look for them. Powerful types, immutable state and FP make a world of difference for writing clear solutions, with better abstractions, less code, less bugs and less bullshit than the horrendous status quo of corporate Java development.
- bootily 13y ago
  Actually I just want to reiterate, regardless of typing problems that CAN exist and be prevented by a compiler, I do t ha e those problems in my codebase and neither do most people.
- dbcfd 13y ago
  > less code, less bugs and less bullshit than the horrendous status quo of corporate Java development. It may take some getting used to syntax and design wise, but being able to code things up in 1/10 the size of other languages completely blows away the disadvantages of Scala.
trailfox 13y ago
For an "academic exercise" it's getting used pretty widely by the likes of Twitter, Foursquare, Netflix etc.

by bootily 13y ago

jfb 13y ago

It seems more to me to be an academic exercise in compiler complexity that has been wrapped in a shell of "lookit! Java++" as a play for industry acceptance. I haven't been working with it for long, but I feel that there's a lot of interesting stuff that has become unusably complex because of the design decision to support toll-free Java interop. That makes me nervous.

kenbot 13y ago

There's a lot of "seems" going around from people who haven't used the language, or dynamic-typing folk who obviously aren't going to pick a language that bets the farm on static types. As a long-time Java dev myself, Scala is solving problems you don't even realise you have, because you don't know to look for them. Powerful types, immutable state and FP make a world of difference for writing clear solutions, with better abstractions, less code, less bugs and less bullshit than the horrendous status quo of corporate Java development.

bootily 13y ago
Actually I just want to reiterate, regardless of typing problems that CAN exist and be prevented by a compiler, I do t ha e those problems in my codebase and neither do most people.
dbcfd 13y ago
> less code, less bugs and less bullshit than the horrendous status quo of corporate Java development. It may take some getting used to syntax and design wise, but being able to code things up in 1/10 the size of other languages completely blows away the disadvantages of Scala.

trailfox 13y ago

For an "academic exercise" it's getting used pretty widely by the likes of Twitter, Foursquare, Netflix etc.