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I had a difficult time learning much from this book. One problem is that the author doesn't explain things systematically. Typically, a new concept is introduced without being defined, and some code examples are then presented. This gave me only a rough idea of what that particular language feature does. Another problem is that there's no summary of the language - not even a grammar showing its syntax. So that when I encounter a feature (or a punctuation token that I haven't seen yet), it's hard to find an explanation. The book reads as if it's a stream-of-consciousness collection of topics the author finds interesting. I don't know how this came about, but I would like a book that explains a new idea by first presenting the ideas that the new one depends on. There are quite a few typographical errors and un-grammatical sentences in the book, which leads me to believe it wasn't carefully edited. There are also places in the book that use prose that conveys only an approximate idea of what's going on. For example, from page 235: "The | operator also takes two of these combinated function thingies and combines them into a single function thingy..." Overall, the book just seems to be not very carefully written. Having had no previous knowledge of Scala, I now have a rough idea of what Scala is, but if I ever need to learn the language, I'll have to find another source of information.
E-Book Content
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK PANTONE 123 C Books for professionals by professionals ® The EXPERT’s VOIce ® in Open Source Companion eBook Available Dear Reader, Scala I’ve been writing software professionally since 1977. Scala gave me an epiphany. It has forever changed the way that I approach software design and development. Yikes, you say, I don’t want something that’s going to break my brain. The cool thing about Scala is that you can dip your little toe in the water and see how Scala feels. As you’ll see in Beginning Scala, you can code Scala just as you code Java, except you’ll have less boilerplate code. I’ll show you how you can wade into Scala up to your knees and start using Scala’s XML literals to dynamically create XML to pass data around your application. This built-in XML support allows you to write complex web applications easily and efficiently, because you can process XML using the same constructs you use for other data sequences. I’ll show you how this allows you to transform XML into data structures and objects with no fuss. You can then go a little deeper into Scala and use immutable data structures and pass functions around (although functions are implemented as anonymous inner classes, so you’re really not that far from Java). If you’re feeling wicked adventurous, you can join me in dabbling with Scala’s powerful type system. All of this means you’ll be able to write powerful, elegant applications that take advantage of Scala’s functional-programming features. You’ll spend less time writing boilerplate code and more time thinking about and writing the logic of your application. Please join me in exploring the power, simplicity, and beauty of Scala. Maybe you’ll have an epiphany similar to mine. Beginning Beginning Scala Beginning Scala Thanks, Learn the powerful Scala functional-object language in a fun, interactive way David Pollak, Lift founder and Scala contributor Companion eBook See last page for details on $10 eBook version THE APRESS ROADMAP Beginning Scala The Definitive Guide to Lift www.apress.com ISBN 978-1-4302-1989-7 53999 US $39.99 Pollak SOURCE CODE ONLINE David Pollak Foreword by Martin Odersky, EPFL Designer of Sc