Why use Scala in 2023?

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1. Philipp Haller Scala • A statically-typed programming language that integrates object-oriented and functional programming (https://www.scala-lang.org/) • Concise – Modern, compact syntax – Powerful type inference • Fully interoperable with Java and JavaScript (Scala.js) – Also: beta version of native code compiler (Scala Native) • About as fast as Java • Pushes the boundaries of what is possible to express in a type-safe way given the above properties of the language 1
2. Philipp Haller Motivation for Using Scala • Scala is an excellent choice for implementing interpreters and type checkers – This is the main task in the labs – Language features of particular interest: case classes and pattern matching, tuples, higher-order functions, etc. • Scala has received the highest international award for its significant impact on both industrial software development and programming language research 
 (ACM SIGPLAN Programming Languages Software Award) • In addition, learning a new language… – is beneficial when studying the principles of programming languages – can make you a better programmer, regardless of the languages you are going to use for future tasks 2
3. Philipp Haller Latest RedMonk Ranking 3 Scala ranked higher than Kotlin and Rust Source: Stephen O’Grady, The RedMonk Programming Language Rankings: June 2022 
 https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2022/10/20/language-rankings-6-22/ Latest RedMonk Ranking (June 2022)
4. Philipp Haller Growing Adoption of Scala 4 IEEE Spectrum ranking “Top Programming Languages 2022” (“Jobs” preset) https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2022
5. Philipp Haller Scala Center and Commercial Users • Non-profit center at EPFL, Switzerland, (https://scala.epfl.ch/) dedicated to the continued development and maintenance of Scala – Open-source software development – Education via Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) • Advisory board members: – 47 Degrees, Databricks, Goldman Sachs, Lightbend, Lunatech, VirtusLab, Spotify, Twitter • Other prominent Scala users: – Airbnb, Apple, Klarna, Lego, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, PayPal, Shopify, Starbucks, Tesla, Verizon, Walmart, Walt Disney, Zalando 5