Scala is in a complex struggle to replace Java. Java has remained one of the most popular and versatile programming languages. Scala was launched in 2003 with the intent of addressing various concerns raised by the developers with Java.
Scala has excelled where various programming languages trying to compete with Java and they all have failed.
The language, built on top of the Java Virtual Machine, delivers:
Compatibility with Java programming language
Interoperability
The language’s usage forced Twitter to transition a large portion of their code from Ruby to Scala. In 2011 the guardian also turned their backend from Java to Scala. Now these sites can transition without worrying about speed issues along the way, all because of code optimization and speed within Scala.
Scala has an excellent learning curve and, more importantly, all developers know that it takes time to master a new language. Scala always attempts to include Java to make it more functional and with this improved functionality, the developers gain more access to advanced features.
Examples of the functional features that Scala introduced
Pattern matching
String comparison advancements
Mixins, that incorporate functions in class definitions
Well experienced developers in non-Java environments will be more aware to the features that Scala has to offer. It offers a convenient learning experience if any developer will compare the same experience with Ruby. The language is well-documented and accessible, making it a first choice of the developers of all experience levels. In addition to that scala also includes a full-featured API library.
When written in Scala the developers find it extremely convenient to code Scalable software, test, deploy and debug. Scala can be easily utilized to program if performance is not an issue. The language is extremely versatile, allowing the developers to use it to develop desktop web apps, games, software, mobile solutions, and software as a service. On top of that scala also offers advanced features, clean code, functional and object-oriented programming in an open-source package that leverages Java’s environment.
It was an enlightening experience with the benchmark report conducted by Google among several languages: C++, Java, Scala, and Go.
Developers are often instructed to employ the language that’s best suited to their task. If you’re the one who is tasked with creating a basic form for a website that gets 11 visitors per day, then Scala might be overkill and PHP may suffice.
Scala excel according to Google’s run-time measurements
Scala offers concise notation
Scala provides code complexity optimization
Benchmarks are always complex with Scala and Java, due to garbage collection. In addition to that garbage collection also interferes with benchmark accuracy; hence it’s extremely essential for the developers to understand the benefits of Scala.
The developers can enjoy increased performance and better coding with Scala’s complex features. The little advancement that is offered by Scala is macros, functions, and tuples. Those advancements are just a few of the advancements that Scala offers. In addition to that Scala also incorporates object-oriented programming and functional programming into a powerful language. However, the better comparison is to Java, as it is extremely complex to compare scale to a language such as C++ or Go.
The reason why developers compare Scala with Java is that the language requires Java Virtual Machine environment to operate.
Developers always prefer Scala because of its strength as a language and they fully appreciate the flawless functionality it offers. On top of that, the language was specially developed to remove the restrictiveness of Java, offering a well-organized and cleaner language.
Thanks to Scala object-oriented and functional coding paradigms are possible. Now the developers can easily utilize the strengths of both practices, resulting in code that is:
Functional
Concise
Scala can perform the same tasks as Java with fewer lines of code and developments including testing are also amplified. We have various ways to shorten the code in Java; however, these methods break away from standard practices and make the code difficult to read.
The developers can now enjoy quick development, testing, and deployment with fewer lines of coding, thanks to the joint usage of object-oriented and functional coding.
Scala and Java are both extremely different languages, however, that doesn’t mean developers have to reinvent the wheel. Scala provides interoperability and compatibility with Java, providing following ability to the developers:
Keep their Java libraries
Leverage the advantages of JVM
