Scala has some very nice features for making Java's libraries much nicer to deal with. The most useful are probably implicit definitions and parameters, operato

Scala has some very nice features for making Java's libraries much nicer to deal with. The most useful are probably implicit definitions and parameters, operators (any method may be used as an infix or postfix operator), and target typing. You can often "Scalify" a library using these features. See [1] and [2] to see what I mean. These features are also great for creating DSLs. The recent Scala 2.6 compiler brought some other niceties like structural types (imagine duck typing with a static type system), existential types, and lazy values. All in all, I've been thoroughly impressed with Scala. [1] Pimp my Library: http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=179766 http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=179766 [2] Simplifying JDBC: http://scala.sygneca.com/code/simplifying-jdbc http://scala.sygneca.com/code/simplifying-jdbc