A 3rd "no" from here. Scala is unnecessarily complex because of the Java/JVM compatibility. It's not built from ground up on functional principles, but rather "

A 3rd "no" from here. Scala is unnecessarily complex because of the Java/JVM compatibility. It's not built from ground up on functional principles, but rather "augments Java" with functional features. My recommendation is that start with Haskell or Scheme.