In this lesson, you’ll discover why Scala is an excellent language to learn and why its adoption is increasing so rapidly. You’ll see how Scala relates to the JVM and the key features that make it unique. You’ll also start looking at snippets of Scala code to get an idea of its appearance. After giving you an overview of the Scala language, you’ll continue with the next lesson, in which you’ll install the Scala REPL and use it to interpret snippets of code.
Why should you spend time and effort in learning Scala? Why is it becoming so popular? What are the advantages of adopting it? Let’s discuss its main selling points.
The JVM
The JVM is the standard platform for running Scala programs. Sun Microsystems introduced it in 1994—more than 25 years ago. Since then, the industry has been extensively relying on it. The Java community has also been extremely active, and it has produced an impressive amount of libraries. Thanks to its integration with Java, you can use all these libraries in your Scala programs; this is also true for any Java legacy code you or your company may have.