Scala has been around for a while, but it doesn't come from the scripting language genre.
Think of it as cleaned up Java, with improved generics, some functional-language stuff, and some nifty new abstract-data-type tricks. The nice thing about it is how close it stays to Java in most of the core syntax, and that it integrates so well with the JVM and existing Java libraries. Fritz Meissner wrote: > My pre-work serverside read this morning was the first time I'd ever > heard of Scala, but now I'm seeing the name all over. Where does it > come from, and why is it suddenly the Next Big Thing? I understand > that it offers scripting language-ish features with static typing, but > aren't there other languages that do this? Who's responsible for the > sudden popularity? > > Fritz > > On Jan 9, 2008 2:52 PM, Noel Grandin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> There are a lot of ways to slice the cake - different programming languages >> have different trade-offs, and different applicability to different problem >> domains. >> >> Java excels at being a general-purpose application language with reasonable >> performance and reasonable semantics. >> >> I really don't see any of the alternatives as being a whole lot better. >> People are fond of showing small snippets of <insert favourite language >> here> and then saying that Java is terrible, but when you did around in real >> code, Python, Ruby, Scala, Groovy all have their fair share of warts. >> Try explaining how Ruby's closures work under the hood, >> or Python's meta-object protocol, >> or Scala's generic-type-covariance >> or Erlang's rules for data structures. >> >> In general, Java has struck a good balance of backwards-compatibility and >> forward momentum. >> >> I think Bjarne said it best - "There are 2 kinds of languages in the world. >> The kind everybody complains about, and the kind nobody uses". >> >> -- Noel. >> >> >> >> > >> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CTJUG Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CTJUG-Forum For the ctjug home page see http://www.ctjug.org.za -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
