Top-Level Definitions

Compilation Units

CompilationUnit  ::=  {‘package’ QualId semi} TopStatSeq
TopStatSeq       ::=  TopStat {semi TopStat}
TopStat          ::=  {Annotation} {Modifier} TmplDef
                   |  Import
                   |  Packaging
                   |  PackageObject
                   |
QualId           ::=  id {‘.’ id}

A compilation unit consists of a sequence of packagings, import clauses, and class and object definitions, which may be preceded by a package clause.

A compilation unit

package ´p_1´;
...
package ´p_n´;
´\mathit{stats}´

starting with one or more package clauses is equivalent to a compilation unit consisting of the packaging

package ´p_1´ { ...
  package ´p_n´ {
    ´\mathit{stats}´
  } ...
}

Every compilation unit implicitly imports the following packages, in the given order:

  1. the package java.lang,
  2. the package scala, and
  3. the object scala.Predef, unless there is an explicit top-level import that references scala.Predef.

Members of a later import in that order hide members of an earlier import.

The exception to the implicit import of scala.Predef can be useful to hide, e.g., predefined implicit conversions.

Packagings

Packaging       ::=  ‘package’ QualId [nl] ‘{’ TopStatSeq ‘}’

A package is a special object which defines a set of member classes, objects and packages. Unlike other objects, packages are not introduced by a definition. Instead, the set of members of a package is determined by packagings.

A packaging package ´p´ { ´\mathit{ds}´ } injects all definitions in ´\mathit{ds}´ as members into the package whose qualified name is ´p´. Members of a package are called top-level definitions. If a definition in ´\mathit{ds}´ is labeled private, it is visible only for other members in the package.

Inside the packaging, all members of package ´p´ are visible under their simple names. However this rule does not extend to members of enclosing packages of ´p´ that are designated by a prefix of the path ´p´.

package org.net.prj {
  ...
}

all members of package org.net.prj are visible under their simple names, but members of packages org or org.net require explicit qualification or imports.

Selections ´p´.´m´ from ´p´ as well as imports from ´p´ work as for objects. However, unlike other objects, packages may not be used as values. It is illegal to have a package with the same fully qualified name as a module or a class.

Top-level definitions outside a packaging are assumed to be injected into a special empty package. That package cannot be named and therefore cannot be imported. However, members of the empty package are visible to each other without qualification.

Package Objects

PackageObject   ::=  ‘package’ ‘object’ ObjectDef

A package object package object ´p´ extends ´t´ adds the members of template ´t´ to the package ´p´. There can be only one package object per package. The standard naming convention is to place the definition above in a file named package.scala that's located in the directory corresponding to package ´p´.

The package object should not define a member with the same name as one of the top-level objects or classes defined in package ´p´. If there is a name conflict, the behavior of the program is currently undefined. It is expected that this restriction will be lifted in a future version of Scala.

Package References

QualId           ::=  id {‘.’ id}

A reference to a package takes the form of a qualified identifier. Like all other references, package references are relative. That is, a package reference starting in a name ´p´ will be looked up in the closest enclosing scope that defines a member named ´p´.

If a package name is shadowed, it's possible to refer to its fully-qualified name by prefixing it with the special predefined name _root_, which refers to the outermost root package that contains all top-level packages.

The name _root_ has this special denotation only when used as the first element of a qualifier; it is an ordinary identifier otherwise.

Example

Consider the following program:

package b {
  class B
}

package a {
  package b {
    class A {
      val x = new _root_.b.B
    }
    class C {
      import _root_.b._
      def y = new B
    }
  }
}

Here, the reference _root_.b.B refers to class B in the toplevel package b. If the _root_ prefix had been omitted, the name b would instead resolve to the package a.b, and, provided that package does not also contain a class B, a compiler-time error would result.

Programs

A program is a top-level object that has a member method main of type (Array[String])Unit. Programs can be executed from a command shell. The program's command arguments are passed to the main method as a parameter of type Array[String].

The main method of a program can be directly defined in the object, or it can be inherited. The scala library defines a special class scala.App whose body acts as a main method. An objects ´m´ inheriting from this class is thus a program, which executes the initialization code of the object ´m´.

Example

The following example will create a hello world program by defining a method main in module test.HelloWorld.

package test
object HelloWorld {
  def main(args: Array[String]) { println("Hello World") }
}

This program can be started by the command

scala test.HelloWorld

In a Java environment, the command

java test.HelloWorld

would work as well.

HelloWorld can also be defined without a main method by inheriting from App instead:

package test
object HelloWorld extends App {
  println("Hello World")
}