The Scala Community

Created by bagwell on 2009-05-04. Updated: 2010-04-24, 10:53

Introduction to the Community

You will enjoy being part of the Scala community. Developers in countries all over the world are using Scala for a large variety of applications across a broad range industies. They are enthusiastic, share a passion for Scala are extremely welcoming to new comers. You will find friendly, knowlegeable people ready to help you from the moment you start learning Scala to the time you become an expert programmer yourself. Some share their experience in blogs, others through the Scala e-mail lists, by participating in Open Development projects, at user group meetings or at Scala conferences. Naturally, the best way to get to know the community is to listen and start talking to them. Perhaps join a Scala user group close by.

If you are just starting to learn Scala you will find many useful references in the Documentation section of this website.

Mailing Lists

You can join the community subscribing to the Scala mailing lists and following the debates and the ideas. From time to time new Scala programmers mail in requests for help, when they have got stuck with a concept or cannot see a way to encode a particular algorithm concisely in Scala. It normally doesn't take long for an answer to come from one of the community members. This interchange of knowledge and ideas happens at all levels and is pleasantly self moderating. The Scala research team at EPFL is part of this community too and regularly engages in dialogs with other members to get feedback, new research ideas or provide advice.

Scala User Groups

You can find or register your local Scala user group here on Scala-Tribes.

IRC Channel

If you are an Internet Relay Chat user, you can enjoy a real-time, multi-user Scala-related chat on the #scala IRC channel.

Blogs

Scala bloggers are another highly valued part of the community. Typically they provide well thought out views on different aspects of Scala that you will find informative, perhaps entertaining and occasionally provacative. Often reflecting the bloggers everyday programming experiences they give a wonderful insight into the diverse uses of the language. There are a variety to choose from so it is worth taking some time to explore a few. You are sure to find some that you like and here are a few with which to start.

Scala News Sources

There are a number of community members who maintain news feeder sites that agregate Scala news. If you want to keep abreast of the changing world of Scala then you will find one or more of these useful.

The Java Posse podcast also includes frequent discussions and useful information related to Scala.

Community Wiki

There is a wiki site, created by the Scala community, containing a good deal of useful information.

The Sygneca Scala Wiki

Community Forum

Christian Helmbold created a community-driven web forum, as an additional way for Scala users to interact.

Scala Forum at scala-forum.org

Scala Style Guide

The Scala community has developed a document containing recommended Scala style guidelines, which several people regard as a valuable summary of good programming practices. Although not officially endorsed by EPFL, some may find this guidance useful.

The Scala Style Guide

Scala Trac

If you encounter anomalies while using Scala, or if you are interested in contributing to the development of the Scala compiler and tools, you will be interested in exploring the Scala Trac server, our issue tracking system. You can use it to submit bug reports, browse the existing tickets, and request new features and enhancement. You can also vote for tickets that you consider urgent, and exchange opinions with other Scala users about open issues. If you would like to contribute the development of Scala, you can also explore all of the other resources available to Scala contributors.

Committers and Open Source Projects

Many find developing applications or tools in Scala fun. You will find many groups of programmers who have got together in an Open Source project to create one. ESME and Lift are just two examples. New people are always welcome, so if you would enjoy to do this type of development just ask a project team member. In the case of ESME and Lift the projects are now also in commercial production. Working on an Open project will certainly help improve your skills and could lead to a new job opportunity too.

Introduction