Scala 3 — Book

Scala for Java Developers

Language

    This page provides a comparison between the Java and Scala programming languages by sharing side-by-side examples of each language. It’s intended for programmers who know Java and want to learn about Scala, specifically by seeing how Scala features compare to Java.

    Overview

    Before getting into the examples, this first section provides a relatively brief introduction and summary of the sections that follow. It presents the similarities and differences between Java and Scala at a high level, and then introduces the differences you’ll experience every day as you write code.

    High level similarities

    At a high level, Scala shares these similarities with Java:

    • Scala code is compiled to .class files, packaged in JAR files, and runs on the JVM
    • It’s an object-oriented programming (OOP) language
    • It’s statically typed
    • Both languages have support for lambdas and higher-order functions
    • They can both be used with IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and Microsoft VS Code
    • Projects can be built with build tools like Gradle, Ant, and Maven
    • It has terrific libraries and frameworks for building server-side, network-intensive applications, including web server applications, microservices, machine learning, and more (see the “Awesome Scala” list)
    • Both Java and Scala can use Scala libraries:
      • They can use the Akka actors library to build actor-based concurrent systems, and Apache Spark to build data-intensive applications
      • They can use the Play Framework to develop server-side applications
    • You can use GraalVM to compile your projects into native executables
    • Scala can seamlessly use the wealth of libraries that have been developed for Java

    High level differences

    Also at a high level, the differences between Java and Scala are:

    • Scala has a concise but readable syntax; we call it expressive
    • Though it’s statically typed, Scala often feels like a dynamic language
    • Scala is a pure OOP language, so every object is an instance of a class, and symbols like + and += that look like operators are really methods; this means that you can create your own operators
    • In addition to being a pure OOP language, Scala is also a pure FP language; in fact, it encourages a fusion of OOP and FP, with functions for the logic and objects for modularity
    • Scala has a full suite of immutable collections, including List, Vector, and immutable Map and Set implementations
    • Everything in Scala is an expression: constructs like if statements, for loops, match expressions, and even try/catch expressions all have return values
    • Scala idioms favor immutability by default: you’re encouraged to use immutable (final) variables and immutable collections
    • Idiomatic Scala code does not use null, and thus does not suffer from NullPointerException
    • The Scala ecosystem has other build tools in sbt, Mill, and others
    • In addition to running on the JVM, the Scala.js project lets you use Scala as a JavaScript replacement
    • The Scala Native project adds low-level constructs to let you write “systems” level code, and also compiles to native executables

    Programming level differences

    Finally, these are some of the differences you’ll see every day when writing code:

    • Scala’s syntax is extremely consistent
    • Variables and parameters are defined as val (immutable, like final in Java) or var (mutable)
    • Type inference makes your code feel dynamically typed, and helps to keep your code brief
    • In addition to simple for loops, Scala has powerful for comprehensions that yield results based on your algorithms
    • Pattern matching and match expressions will change the way you write code
    • Writing immutable code by default leads to writing expressions rather than statements; in time you see that writing expressions simplifies your code (and your tests)
    • Toplevel definitions let you put method, field, and other definitions anywhere, also leading to concise, expressive code
    • You can create mixins by “mixing” multiple traits into classes and objects (traits are similar to interfaces in Java 8 and newer)
    • Classes are closed by default, supporting Joshua Bloch’s Effective Java idiom, “Design and document for inheritance or else forbid it”
    • Scala’s contextual abstractions and term inference provide a collection of features:
      • Extension methods let you add new functionality to closed classes
      • Given instances let you define terms that the compiler can synthesize at using points, making your code less verbose and essentially letting the compiler write code for you
      • Multiversal equality lets you limit equality comparisons—at compile time—to only those comparisons that make sense
    • Scala has state of the art, third-party, open source functional programming libraries
    • Scala case classes are like records in Java 14; they help you model data when writing FP code, with built-in support for concepts like pattern matching and cloning
    • Thanks to features like by-name parameters, infix notation, optional parentheses, extension methods, and higher-order functions, you can create your own “control structures” and DSLs
    • Scala files do not have to be named according to the classes or traits they contain
    • Many other goodies: companion classes and objects, macros, union and intersection, numeric literals, multiple parameter lists, default values for parameters, named arguments, and more

    Features compared with examples

    Given that introduction, the following sections provide side-by-side comparisons of Java and Scala programming language features.

    OOP style classes and methods

    This section provides comparisons of features related to OOP-style classes and methods.

    Comments:

    //
    /* ... */
    /** ... */
    //
    /* ... */
    /** ... */

    OOP style class, primary constructor:

    Scala doesn’t follow the JavaBeans standard, so instead of showing Java code written in the JavaBeans style, here we show Java code that is equivalent to the Scala code that follows it.

    class Person {
      public String firstName;
      public String lastName;
      public int age;
      public Person(
        String firstName,
        String lastName,
        int age
      ) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
        this.lastName = lastName;
        this.age = age;
      }
      public String toString() {
        return String.format("%s %s is %d years old.", firstName, lastName, age);
      }
    }
    class Person (
      var firstName: String,
      var lastName: String,
      var age: Int
    ):  
      override def toString = s"$firstName $lastName is $age years old."

    Auxiliary constructors:

    public class Person {
      public String firstName;
      public String lastName;
      public int age;

      // primary constructor
      public Person(
        String firstName,
        String lastName,
        int age
      ) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
        this.lastName = lastName;
        this.age = age;
      }

      // zero-arg constructor
      public Person() {
        this("", "", 0);
      }

      // one-arg constructor
      public Person(String firstName) {
        this(firstName, "", 0);
      }

      // two-arg constructor
      public Person(
        String firstName,
        String lastName
      ) {
        this(firstName, lastName, 0);
      }

    }
    class Person (
      var firstName: String,
      var lastName: String,
      var age: Int
    ):
        // zero-arg auxiliary constructor
        def this() = this("", "", 0)

        // one-arg auxiliary constructor
        def this(firstName: String) =
          this(firstName, "", 0)

        // two-arg auxiliary constructor
        def this(
          firstName: String,
          lastName: String
        ) =
          this(firstName, lastName, 0)

    end Person

    Classes closed by default:

    “Plan for inheritance or else forbid it.”

    final class Person
    class Person

    A class that’s open for extension:

    class Person
    open class Person

    One-line method:

    public int add(int a, int b) {
      return a + b;
    }
    def add(a: Int, b: Int): Int = a + b

    Multiline method:

    public void walkThenRun() {
      System.out.println("walk");
      System.out.println("run");
    }
    def walkThenRun() =
      println("walk")
      println("run")

    Immutable fields:

    final int i = 1;
    val i = 1

    Mutable fields:

    int i = 1;
    var i = 1;
    var i = 1

    Interfaces, traits, and inheritance

    This section compares Java interfaces to Scala traits, including how classes extend interfaces and traits.

    Interfaces/traits:

    public interface Marker {};
    trait Marker

    Simple interface:

    public interface Adder {
      public int add(int a, int b);
    }
    trait Adder:
      def add(a: Int, b: Int): Int

    Interface with a concrete method:

    public interface Adder {
      int add(int a, int b);
      default int multiply(
        int a, int b
      ) {
        return a * b;
      }
    }
    trait Adder:
      def add(a: Int, b: Int): Int
      def multiply(a: Int, b: Int): Int =
        a * b

    Inheritance:

    class Dog extends Animal implements HasLegs, HasTail
    class Dog extends Animal, HasLegs, HasTail

    Extend multiple interfaces

    These interfaces and traits have concrete, implemented methods (default methods):

    interface Adder {
      default int add(int a, int b) {
        return a + b;
      }
    }

    interface Multiplier {
      default int multiply (
        int a,
        int b)
      {
        return a * b;
      }
    }

    public class JavaMath
    implements Adder, Multiplier {}

    JavaMath jm = new JavaMath();
    jm.add(1,1);
    jm.multiply(2,2);
    trait Adder:
      def add(a: Int, b: Int) = a + b

    trait Multiplier:
      def multiply(a: Int, b: Int) = a * b

    class ScalaMath extends Adder, Multiplier

    val sm = new ScalaMath
    sm.add(1,1)
    sm.multiply(2,2)

    Mixins:

    N/A
    class DavidBanner

    trait Angry:
      def beAngry() =
        println("You won’t like me ...")

    trait Big:
      println("I’m big")

    trait Green:
      println("I’m green")

    // mix in the traits as DavidBanner
    // is created
    val hulk = new DavidBanner with Big with Angry with Green

    Control structures

    This section compares control structures in Java and Scala.

    if statement, one line:

    if (x == 1) { System.out.println(1); }
    if x == 1 then println(x)

    if statement, multiline:

    if (x == 1) {
      System.out.println("x is 1, as you can see:")
      System.out.println(x)
    }
    if x == 1 then
      println("x is 1, as you can see:")
      println(x)

    if, else if, else:

    if (x < 0) {
      System.out.println("negative")
    } else if (x == 0) {
      System.out.println("zero")
    } else {
      System.out.println("positive")
    }
    if x < 0 then
      println("negative")
    else if x == 0
      println("zero")
    else
      println("positive")

    if as the method body:

    public int min(int a, int b) {
      return (a < b) ? a : b;
    }
    def min(a: Int, b: Int): Int =
      if a < b then a else b

    Return a value from if:

    Called a ternary operator in Java:

    int minVal = (a < b) ? a : b;
    val minValue = if a < b then a else b

    while loop:

    while (i < 3) {
      System.out.println(i);
      i++;
    }
    while i < 3 do
      println(i)
      i += 1

    for loop, single line:

    for (int i: ints) {
      System.out.println(i);
    }
    //preferred
    for i <- ints do println(i)

    // also available
    for (i <- ints) println(i)

    for loop, multiple lines:

    for (int i: ints) {
      int x = i * 2;
      System.out.println(x);
    }
    for
      i <- ints
    do
      val x = i * 2
      println(s"i = $i, x = $x")

    for loop, multiple generators:

    for (int i: ints1) {
      for (int j: chars) {
        for (int k: ints2) {
          System.out.printf("i = %d, j = %d, k = %d\n", i,j,k);
        }
      }
    }
    for
      i <- 1 to 2
      j <- 'a' to 'b'
      k <- 1 to 10 by 5
    do
      println(s"i = $i, j = $j, k = $k")

    Generator with guards (if) expressions:

    List ints =
      ArrayList(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10);

    for (int i: ints) {
      if (i % 2 == 0 && i < 5) {
        System.out.println(x);
      }
    }
    for
      i <- 1 to 10
      if i % 2 == 0
      if i < 5
    do
      println(i)

    for comprehension:

    N/A
    val list =
      for
        i <- 1 to 3
      yield
        i * 10
    // list: Vector(10, 20, 30)

    switch/match:

    String monthAsString = "";
    switch(day) {
      case 1: monthAsString = "January";
              break;
      case 2: monthAsString = "February";
              break;
      default: monthAsString = "Other";
              break;
    }
    val monthAsString = day match
      case 1 => "January"
      case 2 => "February"
      case _ => "Other"

    switch/match, multiple conditions per case:

    String numAsString = "";
    switch (i) {
      case 1: case 3:
      case 5: case 7: case 9:
        numAsString = "odd";
        break;
      case 2: case 4:
      case 6: case 8: case 10:
        numAsString = "even";
        break;
      default:
        numAsString = "too big";
        break;
    }
    val numAsString = i match
      case 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 => "odd"
      case 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 => "even"
      case _ => "too big"

    try/catch/finally:

    try {
      writeTextToFile(text);
    } catch (IOException ioe) {
      println(ioe.getMessage())
    } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
      println(nfe.getMessage())
    } finally {
      println("Clean up resources here.")
    }
    try
      writeTextToFile(text)
    catch
      case ioe: IOException =>
        println(ioe.getMessage)
      case nfe: NumberFormatException =>
        println(nfe.getMessage)
    finally
      println("Clean up resources here.")

    Collections classes

    This section compares the collections classes that are available in Java and Scala.

    Immutable collections classes

    Examples of how to create instances of immutable collections.

    Sequences:

    List strings = List.of("a", "b", "c");
    val strings = List("a", "b", "c")
    val strings = Vector("a", "b", "c")

    Sets:

    Set set = Set.of("a", "b", "c");
    val set = Set("a", "b", "c")

    Maps:

    Map map = Map.of(
      "a", 1,
      "b", 2,
      "c", 3
    );
    val map = Map(
      "a" -> 1,
      "b" -> 2,
      "c" -> 3
    )

    Mutable collections classes

    Scala has mutable collections classes like ArrayBuffer, Map, and Set in its scala.collection.mutable package. After importing them into the current scope, they’re created just like the immutable List, Vector, Map, and Set examples just shown.

    Scala also has an Array class, which you can think of as being a wrapper around the Java array primitive type. A Scala Array[A] maps to a Java A[], so you can think of this Scala Array[String]:

    val a = Array("a", "b")

    as being backed by this Java String[]:

    String[] a = {"a", "b"};

    However, a Scala Array also has all of the functional methods you expect in a Scala collection, including map and filter:

    val nums = Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
val doubledNums = nums.map(_ * 2)
val filteredNums = nums.filter(_ > 2)

    Because the Scala Array is represented in the same way as the Java array, you can easily use Java methods that return arrays in your Scala code.

    Despite that discussion of Array, bear in mind that often in Scala there are alternatives to Array that might be better suited. Arrays are useful for interoperating with other languages (Java, JavaScript) and they may also be useful when writing low-level code that needs to squeeze maximum performance out of the underlying platform. But in general, when you need to use a sequence, the Scala idiom is to prefer immutable sequences like Vector and List, and then use ArrayBuffer if and when when you really need a mutable sequence.

    You can also convert between Java and Scala collections classes with the Scala CollectionConverters objects. There are two objects in different packages, one for converting from Java to Scala, and another for converting from Scala to Java. This table shows the possible conversions:

    Java Scala
    java.util.Collection scala.collection.Iterable
    java.util.List scala.collection.mutable.Buffer
    java.util.Set scala.collection.mutable.Set
    java.util.Map scala.collection.mutable.Map
    java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap scala.collection.mutable.ConcurrentMap
    java.util.Dictionary scala.collection.mutable.Map

    Methods on collections classes

    With the ability to treat Java collections as streams, Java and Scala now have many of the same common functional methods available to them:

    • map
    • filter
    • forEach/foreach
    • findFirst/find
    • reduce

    If you’re used to using these methods with lambda expressions in Java, you’ll find it easy to use the same methods on Scala’s collection classes.

    Scala also has dozens of other collections methods, including head, tail, drop, take, distinct, flatten, and many more. At first you may wonder why there are so many methods, but after working with Scala you’ll realize that because of these methods, you rarely ever need to write custom for loops any more.

    (This also means that you rarely need to read custom for loops, as well. Because developers tend to spend on the order of ten times as much time reading code as writing code, this is significant.)

    Tuples

    Java tuples are created like this:

    Pair<String, Integer> pair =
  new Pair<String, Integer>("Eleven", 11);

Triplet<String, Integer, Double> triplet =
  Triplet.with("Eleven", 11, 11.0);
Quartet<String, Integer, Double, Person> quartet =
  Quartet.with("Eleven", 11, 11.0, new Person("Eleven"));

    Other Java tuple names are Quintet, Sextet, Septet, Octet, Ennead, Decade.

    Tuples of any size in Scala are created by putting the values inside parentheses, like this:

    val a = ("eleven")
val b = ("eleven", 11)
val c = ("eleven", 11, 11.0)
val d = ("eleven", 11, 11.0, Person("Eleven"))

    Enums

    This section compares enumerations in Java and Scala.

    Basic enum:

    enum Color {
      RED, GREEN, BLUE
    }
    enum Color:
      case Red, Green, Blue

    Parameterized enum:

    enum Color {
      Red(0xFF0000),
      Green(0x00FF00),
      Blue(0x0000FF);

      private int rgb;

      Color(int rgb) {
        this.rgb = rgb;
      }
    }
    enum Color(val rgb: Int):
      case Red   extends Color(0xFF0000)
      case Green extends Color(0x00FF00)
      case Blue  extends Color(0x0000FF)

    User-defined enum members:

    enum Planet {
      MERCURY (3.303e+23, 2.4397e6),
      VENUS   (4.869e+24, 6.0518e6),
      EARTH   (5.976e+24, 6.37814e6);
      // more planets ...

      private final double mass;
      private final double radius;

      Planet(double mass, double radius) {
        this.mass = mass;
        this.radius = radius;
      }

      public static final double G =
        6.67300E-11;

      private double mass() {
        return mass;
      }

      private double radius() {
        return radius;
      }

      double surfaceGravity() {
        return G * mass /
          (radius * radius);
      }

      double surfaceWeight(
        double otherMass
      ) {
        return otherMass *
          surfaceGravity();
      }

    }
    enum Planet(
      mass: Double,
      radius: Double
    ):
      case Mercury extends
        Planet(3.303e+23, 2.4397e6)
      case Venus extends
        Planet(4.869e+24, 6.0518e6)
      case Earth extends
        Planet(5.976e+24, 6.37814e6)
        // more planets ...

      private final val G = 6.67300E-11

      def surfaceGravity =
        G * mass / (radius * radius)

      def surfaceWeight(otherMass: Double)
        = otherMass * surfaceGravity

    Exceptions and error handling

    This section covers the differences between exception handling in Java and Scala.

    Java uses checked exceptions

    Java uses checked exceptions, so in Java code you have historically written try/catch/finally blocks, along with throws clauses on methods:

    public int makeInt(String s)
throws NumberFormatException {
  // code here to convert a String to an int
}

    Scala doesn’t use checked exceptions

    The Scala idiom is to not use checked exceptions like this. When working with code that can throw exceptions, you can use try/catch/finally blocks to catch exceptions from code that throws them, but how you proceed from there is different.

    The best way to explain this is that Scala code consists of expressions, which return values. As a result, you end up writing your code as a series of algebraic expressions:

    val a = f(x)
val b = g(a,z)
val c = h(b,y)

    This is nice, it’s just algebra. You create equations to solve small problems, and then combine equations to solve larger problems.

    And very importantly—as you remember from algebra courses—algebraic expressions don’t short circuit—they don’t throw exceptions that blow up a series of equations.

    Therefore, in Scala our methods don’t throw exceptions. Instead, they return types like Option. For example, this makeInt method catches a possible exception and returns an Option value:

    def makeInt(s: String): Option[Int] =
  try
    Some(s.toInt)
  catch
    case e: NumberFormatException => None

    The Scala Option is similar to the Java Optional class. As shown, if the string-to-int conversion succeeds, the Int is returned inside a Some value, and if it fails, a None value is returned. Some and None are subtypes of Option, so the method is declared to return the Option[Int] type.

    When you have an Option value, such as the one returned by makeInt, there are many ways to work with it, depending on your needs. This code shows one possible approach:

    makeInt(aString) match
  case Some(i) => println(s"Int i = $i")
  case None => println(s"Could not convert $aString to an Int.")

    Option is commonly used in Scala, and it’s built into many classes in the standard library. Other similar sets of classes like Try/Success/Failure and Either/Left/Right offer even more flexibility.

    For more information on dealing with errors and exceptions in Scala, see the Functional Error Handling section.

    Concepts that are unique to Scala

    That concludes are comparison of the Java and Scala languages.

    There are other concepts in Scala which currently have no equal in Java 11. This includes:

    • Everything related to Scala’s contextual abstractions
    • Several Scala method features:
      • Multiple parameter lists
      • Default parameter values
      • Using named arguments when calling methods
    • Case classes (like “records” in Java 14), case objects, and companion classes and objects (see the Domain Modeling) chapter
    • The ability to create your own control structures and DSLs
    • Toplevel definitions
    • Pattern matching
    • Advanced features of match expressions
    • Type lambdas
    • Trait parameters
    • Opaque type aliases
    • Multiversal equality
    • Type classes
    • Infix methods
    • Macros and metaprogramming
    ← previous next →

    Contributors to this page:

    Contents
    Problem with this page?
         Please help us fix it!