scala

An instance of A <:< B witnesses that A is a subtype of B. Requiring an implicit argument of the type A <:< B encodes the generalized constraint A <: B.

To constrain any abstract type T that's in scope in a method's argument list (not just the method's own type parameters) simply add an implicit argument of type T <:< U, where U is the required upper bound; or for lower-bounds, use: L <:< T, where L is the required lower bound.

In case of any confusion over which method goes in what direction, all the "Co" methods (including apply) go from left to right in the type ("with" the type), and all the "Contra" methods go from right to left ("against" the type). E.g., apply turns a From into a To, and substituteContra replaces the Tos in a type with Froms.

In part contributed by Jason Zaugg.

An instance of A =:= B witnesses that the types A and B are equal. It also acts as a A <:< B, but not a B <:< A (directly) due to restrictions on subclassing.

In case of any confusion over which method goes in what direction, all the "Co" methods (including apply) go from left to right in the type ("with" the type), and all the "Contra" methods go from right to left ("against" the type). E.g., apply turns a From into a To, and substituteContra replaces the Tos in a type with Froms.

Class Any is the root of the Scala class hierarchy. Every class in a Scala execution environment inherits directly or indirectly from this class.

Starting with Scala 2.10 it is possible to directly extend Any using universal traits. A universal trait is a trait that extends Any, only has defs as members, and does no initialization.

The main use case for universal traits is to allow basic inheritance of methods for value classes. For example,

trait Printable extends Any {
  def print(): Unit = println(this)
}
class Wrapper(val underlying: Int) extends AnyVal with Printable

val w = new Wrapper(3)
w.print()

See the Value Classes and Universal Traits for more details on the interplay of universal traits and value classes.

The super-type of all types.

See https://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/reference/other-new-features/kind-polymorphism.html.

AnyVal is the root class of all value types, which describe values not implemented as objects in the underlying host system. Value classes are specified in Scala Language Specification, section 12.2.

The standard implementation includes nine AnyVal subtypes:

scala.Double, scala.Float, scala.Long, scala.Int, scala.Char, scala.Short, and scala.Byte are the numeric value types.

scala.Unit and scala.Boolean are the non-numeric value types.

Other groupings:

• The subrange types are scala.Byte, scala.Short, and scala.Char.

• The integer types include the subrange types as well as scala.Int and scala.Long.

• The floating point types are scala.Float and scala.Double.

Prior to Scala 2.10, AnyVal was a sealed trait. Beginning with Scala 2.10, however, it is possible to define a subclass of AnyVal called a user-defined value class which is treated specially by the compiler. Properly-defined user value classes provide a way to improve performance on user-defined types by avoiding object allocation at runtime, and by replacing virtual method invocations with static method invocations.

User-defined value classes which avoid object allocation...

• must have a single val parameter that is the underlying runtime representation.

• can define defs, but no vals, vars, or nested traitss, classes or objects.

• typically extend no other trait apart from AnyVal.

• cannot be used in type tests or pattern matching.

• may not override equals or hashCode methods.

A minimal example:

class Wrapper(val underlying: Int) extends AnyVal {
  def foo: Wrapper = new Wrapper(underlying * 19)
}

It's important to note that user-defined value classes are limited, and in some circumstances, still must allocate a value class instance at runtime. These limitations and circumstances are explained in greater detail in the Value Classes and Universal Traits.

The App trait can be used to quickly turn objects into executable programs. Here is an example:

object Main extends App {
  Console.println("Hello World: " + (args mkString ", "))
}

No explicit main method is needed. Instead, the whole class body becomes the “main method”.

args returns the current command line arguments as an array.

Caveats

It should be noted that this trait is implemented using the DelayedInit functionality, which means that fields of the object will not have been initialized before the main method has been executed.

Future versions of this trait will no longer extend DelayedInit.

Utility methods for operating on arrays. For example:

val a = Array(1, 2)
val b = Array.ofDim[Int](2)
val c = Array.concat(a, b)

where the array objects a, b and c have respectively the values Array(1, 2), Array(0, 0) and Array(1, 2, 0, 0).

Arrays are mutable, indexed collections of values. Array[T] is Scala's representation for Java's T[].

val numbers = Array(1, 2, 3, 4)
val first = numbers(0) // read the first element
numbers(3) = 100 // replace the 4th array element with 100
val biggerNumbers = numbers.map(_ * 2) // multiply all numbers by two

Arrays make use of two common pieces of Scala syntactic sugar, shown on lines 2 and 3 of the above example code. Line 2 is translated into a call to apply(Int), while line 3 is translated into a call to update(Int, T).

Two implicit conversions exist in scala.Predef that are frequently applied to arrays: a conversion to scala.collection.ArrayOps (shown on line 4 of the example above) and a conversion to scala.collection.mutable.ArraySeq (a subtype of scala.collection.Seq). Both types make available many of the standard operations found in the Scala collections API. The conversion to ArrayOps is temporary, as all operations defined on ArrayOps return an Array, while the conversion to ArraySeq is permanent as all operations return a ArraySeq.

The conversion to ArrayOps takes priority over the conversion to ArraySeq. For instance, consider the following code:

val arr = Array(1, 2, 3)
val arrReversed = arr.reverse
val seqReversed : collection.Seq[Int] = arr.reverse

Value arrReversed will be of type Array[Int], with an implicit conversion to ArrayOps occurring to perform the reverse operation. The value of seqReversed, on the other hand, will be computed by converting to ArraySeq first and invoking the variant of reverse that returns another ArraySeq.

Boolean (equivalent to Java's boolean primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Boolean are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Boolean => scala.runtime.RichBoolean which provides useful non-primitive operations.

Byte, a 8-bit signed integer (equivalent to Java's byte primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Byte are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Byte => scala.runtime.RichByte which provides useful non-primitive operations.

Char, a 16-bit unsigned integer (equivalent to Java's char primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Char are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Char => scala.runtime.RichChar which provides useful non-primitive operations.

Implements functionality for printing Scala values on the terminal. For reading values use StdIn. Also defines constants for marking up text on ANSI terminals.

Console Output

Use the print methods to output text.

scala> Console.printf(
  "Today the outside temperature is a balmy %.1f°C. %<.1f°C beats the previous record of %.1f°C.\n",
  -137.0,
  -135.05)
Today the outside temperature is a balmy -137.0°C. -137.0°C beats the previous record of -135.1°C.

ANSI escape codes

Use the ANSI escape codes for colorizing console output either to STDOUT or STDERR.

import Console.{GREEN, RED, RESET, YELLOW_B, UNDERLINED}

object PrimeTest {

  def isPrime(): Unit = {

    val candidate = io.StdIn.readInt().ensuring(_ > 1)

    val prime = (2 to candidate - 1).forall(candidate % _ != 0)

    if (prime)
      Console.println(s"${RESET}${GREEN}yes${RESET}")
    else
      Console.err.println(s"${RESET}${YELLOW_B}${RED}${UNDERLINED}NO!${RESET}")
  }

  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = isPrime()

}

$ scala PrimeTest

1234567891

yes

$ scala PrimeTest

56474

NO!

IO redefinition

Use IO redefinition to temporarily swap in a different set of input and/or output streams. In this example the stream based method above is wrapped into a function.

import java.io.{ByteArrayOutputStream, StringReader}

object FunctionalPrimeTest {

  def isPrime(candidate: Int): Boolean = {

    val input = new StringReader(s"$candidate\n")
    val outCapture = new ByteArrayOutputStream
    val errCapture = new ByteArrayOutputStream

    Console.withIn(input) {
      Console.withOut(outCapture) {
        Console.withErr(errCapture) {
          PrimeTest.isPrime()
        }
      }
    }

    if (outCapture.toByteArray.nonEmpty) // "yes"
      true
    else if (errCapture.toByteArray.nonEmpty) // "NO!"
      false
    else throw new IllegalArgumentException(candidate.toString)
  }

  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    val primes = (2 to 50) filter (isPrime)
    println(s"First primes: $primes")
  }

}

$ scala FunctionalPrimeTest

First primes: Vector(2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47)

Double, a 64-bit IEEE-754 floating point number (equivalent to Java's double primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Double are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Double => scala.runtime.RichDouble which provides useful non-primitive operations.

A marker trait that enables dynamic invocations. Instances x of this trait allow method invocations x.meth(args) for arbitrary method names meth and argument lists args as well as field accesses x.field for arbitrary field names field.

If a call is not natively supported by x (i.e. if type checking fails), it is rewritten according to the following rules:

foo.method("blah")      ~~> foo.applyDynamic("method")("blah")
foo.method(x = "blah")  ~~> foo.applyDynamicNamed("method")(("x", "blah"))
foo.method(x = 1, 2)    ~~> foo.applyDynamicNamed("method")(("x", 1), ("", 2))
foo.field           ~~> foo.selectDynamic("field")
foo.varia = 10      ~~> foo.updateDynamic("varia")(10)
foo.arr(10) = 13    ~~> foo.selectDynamic("arr").update(10, 13)
foo.arr(10)         ~~> foo.applyDynamic("arr")(10)

As of Scala 2.10, defining direct or indirect subclasses of this trait is only possible if the language feature dynamics is enabled.

Defines a finite set of values specific to the enumeration. Typically these values enumerate all possible forms something can take and provide a lightweight alternative to case classes.

Each call to a Value method adds a new unique value to the enumeration. To be accessible, these values are usually defined as val members of the enumeration.

All values in an enumeration share a common, unique type defined as the Value type member of the enumeration (Value selected on the stable identifier path of the enumeration instance).

Values SHOULD NOT be added to an enumeration after its construction; doing so makes the enumeration thread-unsafe. If values are added to an enumeration from multiple threads (in a non-synchronized fashion) after construction, the behavior of the enumeration is undefined.

Float, a 32-bit IEEE-754 floating point number (equivalent to Java's float primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Float are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Float => scala.runtime.RichFloat which provides useful non-primitive operations.

A function of 0 parameters.

In the following example, the definition of javaVersion is a shorthand for the anonymous class definition anonfun0:

object Main extends App {
  val javaVersion = () => sys.props("java.version")

  val anonfun0 = new Function0[String] {
    def apply(): String = sys.props("java.version")
  }
  assert(javaVersion() == anonfun0())
}

A function of 1 parameter.

In the following example, the definition of succ is a shorthand for the anonymous class definition anonfun1:

object Main extends App {
  val succ = (x: Int) => x + 1
  val anonfun1 = new Function1[Int, Int] {
    def apply(x: Int): Int = x + 1
  }
  assert(succ(0) == anonfun1(0))
}

Note that the difference between Function1 and scala.PartialFunction is that the latter can specify inputs which it will not handle.

A function of 2 parameters.

In the following example, the definition of max is a shorthand for the anonymous class definition anonfun2:

object Main extends App {
  val max = (x: Int, y: Int) => if (x < y) y else x

  val anonfun2 = new Function2[Int, Int, Int] {
    def apply(x: Int, y: Int): Int = if (x < y) y else x
  }
  assert(max(0, 1) == anonfun2(0, 1))
}

Int, a 32-bit signed integer (equivalent to Java's int primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Int are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Int => scala.runtime.RichInt which provides useful non-primitive operations.

Long, a 64-bit signed integer (equivalent to Java's long primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Long are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Long => scala.runtime.RichLong which provides useful non-primitive operations.

The base trait of types that can be safely pattern matched against.

See https://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/reference/other-new-features/matchable.html.

Nothing is - together with scala.Null - at the bottom of Scala's type hierarchy.

Nothing is a subtype of every other type (including scala.Null); there exist no instances of this type. Although type Nothing is uninhabited, it is nevertheless useful in several ways. For instance, the Scala library defines a value scala.collection.immutable.Nil of type List[Nothing]. Because lists are covariant in Scala, this makes scala.collection.immutable.Nil an instance of List[T], for any element of type T.

Another usage for Nothing is the return type for methods which never return normally. One example is method error in scala.sys, which always throws an exception.

Null is - together with scala.Nothing - at the bottom of the Scala type hierarchy.

Null is the type of the null literal. It is a subtype of every type except those of value classes. Value classes are subclasses of AnyVal, which includes primitive types such as Int, Boolean, and user-defined value classes.

Since Null is not a subtype of value types, null is not a member of any such type. For instance, it is not possible to assign null to a variable of type scala.Int.

Represents optional values. Instances of Option are either an instance of scala.Some or the object None.

The most idiomatic way to use an scala.Option instance is to treat it as a collection or monad and use map,flatMap, filter, or foreach:

val name: Option[String] = request getParameter "name"
val upper = name map { _.trim } filter { _.length != 0 } map { _.toUpperCase }
println(upper getOrElse "")

Note that this is equivalent to

val upper = for {
  name <- request getParameter "name"
  trimmed <- Some(name.trim)
  upper <- Some(trimmed.toUpperCase) if trimmed.length != 0
} yield upper
println(upper getOrElse "")

Because of how for comprehension works, if None is returned from request.getParameter, the entire expression results in None

This allows for sophisticated chaining of scala.Option values without having to check for the existence of a value.

These are useful methods that exist for both scala.Some and None. - isDefined — True if not empty - isEmpty — True if empty - nonEmpty — True if not empty - orElse — Evaluate and return alternate optional value if empty - getOrElse — Evaluate and return alternate value if empty - get — Return value, throw exception if empty - fold — Apply function on optional value, return default if empty - map — Apply a function on the optional value - flatMap — Same as map but function must return an optional value - foreach — Apply a procedure on option value - collect — Apply partial pattern match on optional value - filter — An optional value satisfies predicate - filterNot — An optional value doesn't satisfy predicate - exists — Apply predicate on optional value, or false if empty - forall — Apply predicate on optional value, or true if empty - contains — Checks if value equals optional value, or false if empty - zip — Combine two optional values to make a paired optional value - unzip — Split an optional pair to two optional values - unzip3 — Split an optional triple to three optional values - toList — Unary list of optional value, otherwise the empty list

A less-idiomatic way to use scala.Option values is via pattern matching:

val nameMaybe = request getParameter "name"
nameMaybe match {
  case Some(name) =>
    println(name.trim.toUppercase)
  case None =>
    println("No name value")
}

Interacting with code that can occasionally return null can be safely wrapped in scala.Option to become None and scala.Some otherwise.

val abc = new java.util.HashMap[Int, String]
abc.put(1, "A")
bMaybe = Option(abc.get(2))
bMaybe match {
 case Some(b) =>
   println(s"Found $b")
 case None =>
   println("Not found")
}

A partial function of type PartialFunction[A, B] is a unary function where the domain does not necessarily include all values of type A. The function isDefinedAt allows to test dynamically if a value is in the domain of the function.

Even if isDefinedAt returns true for an a: A, calling apply(a) may still throw an exception, so the following code is legal:

val f: PartialFunction[Int, Any] = { case x => x / 0 }   // ArithmeticException: / by zero

It is the responsibility of the caller to call isDefinedAt before calling apply, because if isDefinedAt is false, it is not guaranteed apply will throw an exception to indicate an error condition. If an exception is not thrown, evaluation may result in an arbitrary value.

The usual way to respect this contract is to call applyOrElse, which is expected to be more efficient than calling both isDefinedAt and apply.

The main distinction between PartialFunction and scala.Function1 is that the user of a PartialFunction may choose to do something different with input that is declared to be outside its domain. For example:

val sample = 1 to 10
def isEven(n: Int) = n % 2 == 0
val eveningNews: PartialFunction[Int, String] = {
  case x if isEven(x) => s"$x is even"
}

// The method collect is described as "filter + map"
// because it uses a PartialFunction to select elements
// to which the function is applied.
val evenNumbers = sample.collect(eveningNews)

val oddlyEnough: PartialFunction[Int, String] = {
  case x if !isEven(x) => s"$x is odd"
}

// The method orElse allows chaining another PartialFunction
// to handle input outside the declared domain.
val numbers = sample.map(eveningNews orElse oddlyEnough)

// same as
val numbers = sample.map(n => eveningNews.applyOrElse(n, oddlyEnough))

val half: PartialFunction[Int, Int] = {
  case x if isEven(x) => x / 2
}

// Calculating the domain of a composition can be expensive.
val oddByHalf = half.andThen(oddlyEnough)

// Invokes `half.apply` on even elements!
val oddBalls = sample.filter(oddByHalf.isDefinedAt)

// Better than filter(oddByHalf.isDefinedAt).map(oddByHalf)
val oddBalls = sample.collect(oddByHalf)

// Providing "default" values.
val oddsAndEnds = sample.map(n => oddByHalf.applyOrElse(n, (i: Int) => s"[$i]"))

A few handy operations which leverage the extra bit of information available in partial functions. Examples:

import PartialFunction._

def strangeConditional(other: Any): Boolean = cond(other) {
  case x: String if x == "abc" || x == "def"  => true
  case x: Int => true
}
def onlyInt(v: Any): Option[Int] = condOpt(v) { case x: Int => x }

The Predef object provides definitions that are accessible in all Scala compilation units without explicit qualification.

Commonly Used Types

Predef provides type aliases for types which are commonly used, such as the immutable collection types scala.collection.immutable.Map and scala.collection.immutable.Set.

Console Output

For basic console output, Predef provides convenience methods print and println, which are aliases of the methods in the object scala.Console.

Assertions

A set of assert functions are provided for use as a way to document and dynamically check invariants in code. Invocations of assert can be elided at compile time by providing the command line option -Xdisable-assertions, which raises -Xelide-below above elidable.ASSERTION, to the scalac command.

Variants of assert intended for use with static analysis tools are also provided: assume, require and ensuring. require and ensuring are intended for use as a means of design-by-contract style specification of pre- and post-conditions on functions, with the intention that these specifications could be consumed by a static analysis tool. For instance,

def addNaturals(nats: List[Int]): Int = {
  require(nats forall (_ >= 0), "List contains negative numbers")
  nats.foldLeft(0)(_ + _)
} ensuring(_ >= 0)

The declaration of addNaturals states that the list of integers passed should only contain natural numbers (i.e. non-negative), and that the result returned will also be natural. require is distinct from assert in that if the condition fails, then the caller of the function is to blame rather than a logical error having been made within addNaturals itself. ensuring is a form of assert that declares the guarantee the function is providing with regards to its return value.

Implicit Conversions

A number of commonly applied implicit conversions are also defined here, and in the parent type scala.LowPriorityImplicits. Implicit conversions are provided for the "widening" of numeric values, for instance, converting a Short value to a Long value as required, and to add additional higher-order functions to Array values. These are described in more detail in the documentation of scala.Array.

Annotation for specifying the serialVersionUID field of a (serializable) class.

On the JVM, a class with this annotation will receive a private, static, and final field called serialVersionUID with the provided value, which the JVM's serialization mechanism uses to determine serialization compatibility between different versions of a class.

Short, a 16-bit signed integer (equivalent to Java's short primitive type) is a subtype of scala.AnyVal. Instances of Short are not represented by an object in the underlying runtime system.

There is an implicit conversion from scala.Short => scala.runtime.RichShort which provides useful non-primitive operations.

Singleton is used by the compiler as a supertype for singleton types. This includes literal types, as they are also singleton types.

scala> object A { val x = 42 }
defined object A

scala> implicitly[A.type <:< Singleton]
res12: A.type <:< Singleton = generalized constraint

scala> implicitly[A.x.type <:< Singleton]
res13: A.x.type <:< Singleton = generalized constraint

scala> implicitly[42 <:< Singleton]
res14: 42 <:< Singleton = generalized constraint

scala> implicitly[Int <:< Singleton]
^
error: Cannot prove that Int <:< Singleton.

Singleton has a special meaning when it appears as an upper bound on a formal type parameter. Normally, type inference in Scala widens singleton types to the underlying non-singleton type. When a type parameter has an explicit upper bound of Singleton, the compiler infers a singleton type.

scala> def check42[T](x: T)(implicit ev: T =:= 42): T = x
check42: [T](x: T)(implicit ev: T =:= 42)T

scala> val x1 = check42(42)
^
error: Cannot prove that Int =:= 42.

scala> def singleCheck42[T <: Singleton](x: T)(implicit ev: T =:= 42): T = x
singleCheck42: [T <: Singleton](x: T)(implicit ev: T =:= 42)T

scala> val x2 = singleCheck42(42)
x2: Int = 42

See also SIP-23 about Literal-based Singleton Types.

This class provides the basic mechanism to do String Interpolation. String Interpolation allows users to embed variable references directly in *processed* string literals. Here's an example:

val name = "James"
println(s"Hello, $name")  // Hello, James

Any processed string literal is rewritten as an instantiation and method call against this class. For example:

s"Hello, $name"

is rewritten to be:

StringContext("Hello, ", "").s(name)

By default, this class provides the raw, s and f methods as available interpolators.

To provide your own string interpolator, create an implicit class which adds a method to StringContext. Here's an example:

implicit class JsonHelper(private val sc: StringContext) extends AnyVal {
  def json(args: Any*): JSONObject = ...
}
val x: JSONObject = json"{ a: $a }"

Here the JsonHelper extension class implicitly adds the json method to StringContext which can be used for json string literals.