In today’s world, software development is at a rapid pace, and the ability to perform faster while empowered with more capability and with easier integration is the primary focus of all developers and business stakeholders. The most popular websites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, or eBay, are currently using Scala as one of their prime programming languages
Scala programming language is well known as an alternative to Python, particularly in big data projects. It was created in 2003 by German computer scientist Martin Odersky to address some of the shortcomings of the popular Java language.
Scala is a high demanded language for big data that runs on top of the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), also known as JVM language for app developers, which is designed to express programming patterns in a type-safe manner and offers highly detailed, yet concise code.
In 2015, its usage was 0.2%, but in March 2019, this increased to 1.3%, and 1.6% in March 2020. This growth is a bit more than the popular languages, like JavaScript or Python. Scala is also among the top 20 most popular programming languages, according to the 2019 Developer Survey conducted by the Stack Overflow website.
Scala programming follows a top-down approach. The individual programs are broken down into multiple chunks and each program can be executed in parallel, so the process gets a speed-up and efficiency is improved significantly. Scala development supports .NET Framework and JRE (Java Runtime Environment).
Scala Vs Java: Key differences
The two programming languages differ based on multiple factors as mentioned below:
Programming Language
Scala: Statically typed programming language
Java: A network-centric, programming language.
Concurrency
Scala: Uses an actor model for supporting modern concurrency
Java: Uses the conventional thread-based model for concurrency.
Type of Variables
Scala: Variables are by default immutable types.
Java: Variables are by default mutable types.
Lazy Evaluation
Scala: Supports lazy evaluation.
Java: Doesn’t support lazy evaluation.
Static Members
Scala: Doesn’t contain static members.
Java: Contains static members.
Operator Overloading
Scala: Supports overloading.
Java: Doesn’t support overloading.
Backward Compatibility
Scala: Doesn’t offer
Java: Offers
Readability
Scala: Less readability due to nested code
Java: More readability
Frameworks
Scala: Play, Lift
Java: Spring, Grails, etc.
How Scala is better than Java in its features?
The popularity and learning of Scala programming are rapidly on the rise, although some of the developers have admitted that Scala is hard to understand in comparison to Java, the learning you will get after this language is worth the investment.
There is no doubt that Scala includes some of the more complex features such as Tuples, Functions, Macros, etc. but they are built ultimately to increase the efficiency of the developers by writing easier and better codes. It is a type-safe JVM language that comprises both OOPs and functional programming.
Scala programming has a more complex structure than Java programming, but writing a single line of code is much better than writing 20 simpler Java codes.
We can say that Java is too verbose.
Hello World in Java:
Public class HelloJava {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(“Hello World!”);
}
}
Hello World in Scala:
object HelloScala {
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
println(“Hello World!”)
}
}
Hence, Scala is less verbose than Java in the above simple example.
Let’s take another example of creating a simple list of Strings:
Java:
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
list.add(“1”);
list.add(“2”);
list.add(“3”);
Scala:
val list = List(“1”, “2”, “3”)
Note: Javascript runtimes through Scala is popular for building robust, front-end web applications.
Dynamic vs. Static
Many new languages have emerged over the past few years and integrated into app development services, most of the dynamic. Scala, on the other hand, is statically-typed.
In a dynamic language, you can’t be sure that your code is sufficiently robust and bug-free until you run it. This can lead to potentially serious defects in the code that are never realized until the code is in production.
Contrast between Scala vs Java
| Aspects | Scala | Java |
| Architecture | Designed and developed to be both object and functional-oriented language. | Not as a strong functional programming language. It was developed as an object-oriented language, although in recent days, it is supporting some functional programming features. |
| Simplicity | Simpler, more compact, and concise. | Larger chunks of code. |
| Frameworks | Supported frameworks- Lift, Play. | Supports Grails, Spring, etc. |
| Concurrency model | model for supporting modern concurrency. | Conventional thread-based model |
| Lazy evaluation | Supports. | Does not support. |
| Compiling process | Compilation of source code into byte code is slow. | Compilation of source code into byte code is very fast. |
| Static members | Does not contain static members. | Contains static members. |
| Readability | Less readable due to its nested code. | More readable. |
| Operator overloading | Supports. | Does not support. |
| Interfaces | Traits. These act like Java 8 interfaces. | Java 8 interfaces. |
| Calling method | Every operation on the entities is performed using method calls. | There is no calling method. Operators are treated differently. |
| Type of variables | Immutable type. | Mutable type. |
| Treats | Any method or function present is treated as a variable. | Treats functions as an object. |
| Bug-free codes | No assurance. | Complete assurance of lesser defects. |
| Multiple inheritances support | Supports; using classes and not abstract classes. | Does not support multiple inheritances by using classes; support by interfaces. |
| Backward compatibility | Does not support. | Supports. |
| Static keyword | Does not contain | Contains. |
| Code style | Compact form | Long-form. |
| URL rewriting | Needed | Not needed. |
Advantages of Scala vs. Java
Check out some of the crucial benefits of Scala over Java here:
Handling of Functional Programming Features
Functional programming lets you solve the complexity problem differently. Scala is designed and developed to support it by default, while Java is not a strong functional programming language.
Concise and Compact Codes
Scala has a compact form that is easier to understand, write, compile, and debug, but in Java applications, there is a long-line form of code with complexity.
Concurrency
Parallelizing tasks are easier in Scala due to the actor model of concurrency, which is modern and more efficiently used for Android app development software services, but in Java, a conventional thread-based model is followed.
Third-party Libraries
In Scala, there are a lot of third-party libraries, while most libraries are from Java.
Java does not have such third-party libraries and also does not support Scala libraries.
Which is better to opt for: Scala Vs Java?
Java is a dynamic and mature programming language, whereas Scala language is a modern-age programming language.
Both Java and Scala can be used for building a wide range of applications. But it should be noted that each programming language has its weaknesses and strengths. So developers need to keep in mind the particular requirements of their project when comparing the two programming languages. Contact the most reputed CG-VAK, an offshore and onshore company for valuable software development services to take complete advantage of the best JVM language – Scala for business development.