Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Overview of this book

Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Chapter 5. Scala

Scala is a unique language. It has strong support for functional programming and is also a pure object-oriented programming (OOP) language at the same time. We will cover both OOP and functional programming in this chapter.

The Scala installation offers two ways of running Scala code. It offers an interactive shell where the code can be directly entered and run right away. This program can also be used to run Scala's source code directly, without manually compiling it first. Also, it offers scalac, a traditional compiler that compiles Scala's source code to Java bytecode and generates files with the .class extension. This chapter will only focus on the first method; the next chapter will cover the scalac compiler.

Scala comes with its own Scala standard library. It complements the Java Class Library that is bundled with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and installed as part of the Java Development Kit (JDK). Scala's standard library contains classes that are optimized to...