scala (was RE: checksum for distributed debugging?)

[ke.han]

I studied scala quite a bit last year.  I was trying to decide which 
language to build my next set of software.  Erlang won out in the end. 
However, I took a strong liking to scala.  I think the language design 
and syntax is fantastic.  I found nothing came close in terms of being 
able to express objects and functions without clutter.  I simply cannot 
praise the cleanliness of scala enough.
   The drawbacks for me were:
	1 - implementation on .net and Java VMs gives you process/threading 
oriented limitations of those VMs.
	2 - few libraries/frameworks that take advantage of the scala.  Just 
wrappering Java libraries will bleed through to your program design.  My 
main reason for going through a thorough language review before starting 
my new projects was I was really tired of Java and the like.

Mostly for these two reasons, I decided I couldn't use scala and went 
with erlang.  Note: this is not a knock against erlang...I haven't 
looked back since making this choice and am quite happy.

So the grand questions is: Can we make scala run on erlang instead of 
Java?  This might be a dream come true!!

thanks, ke han



Ulf Wiger (AL/EAB) wrote:
> Bob.Smart@REDACTED
> 
>>P.S. On a completely different matter, I'd be interested in 
>>comments on the Scala language (http://scala.epfl.ch/) by 
>>Erlang experts. It can be used in a fairly pure functional 
>>style using val declarations, and it seems to support 
>>Erlang-style message exchange (see chapter 3 of "Scala by 
>>Example" http://scala.epfl.ch/docu/files/ScalaByExample.pdf). 
>>Far be it from me to suggest that Erlang might not last 
>>forever, but if not this seems a possible migration path.
> 
> 
> I took a look at that a while back, and was first 
> impressed with the examples in the intro of how one
> could use erlang-style concurrency. I was less impressed
> when I read the manual chapter on concurrency, and 
> discovered that it was all about Java-style concurrency.
> 
> It may be a minor point, but the problem I see is 
> that Scala may end up with the same problem as Java CSP
> and other similar initiatives: people will still write 
> software in the original java style, at least as regards
> concurrency.
> 
> While you can still use Scala as a nice language for 
> development from scratch, reusability will hinge on the
> degree to which people adopt new ways of thinking.
> 
> Scala is a language worth keeping an eye on, though, IMO.
> 
> /Uffe
>