Why learn Scala? You don€t need to be a data scientist or distributed computing expert to appreciate this object-oriented functional programming language. This practical book provides a comprehensive yet approachable introduction to the language, complete with syntax diagrams, examples, and exercises. You€ll start with Scala's core types and syntax before diving into higher-order functions and immutable data structures.

Author Jason Swartz demonstrates why Scala€s concise and expressive syntax make it an ideal language for Ruby or Python developers who want to improve their craft, while its type safety and performance ensures that it€s stable and fast enough for any application.

• Learn about the core data types, literals, values, and variables
• Discover how to think and write in expressions, the foundation for Scala's syntax
• Write higher-order functions that accept or return other functions
• Become familiar with immutable data structures and easily transform them with type-safe and declarative operations
• Create custom infix operators to simplify existing operations or even to start your own domain-specific language
• Build classes that compose one or more traits for full reusability, or create new functionality by mixing them in at instantiation