Chapter 1. The Basics

Topics in This Chapter A1

• 1.1 The Scala Interpreter — page 1

• 1.2 Declaring Values and Variables — page 3

• 1.3 Commonly Used Types — page 4

• 1.4 Arithmetic and Operator Overloading — page 5

• 1.5 Calling Functions and Methods — page 7

• 1.6 The apply Method — page 8

• 1.7 Scaladoc — page 8

• Exercises — page 11

In this chapter, you will learn how to use Scala as an industrial-strength pocket calculator, working interactively with numbers and arithmetic operations. We introduce a number of important Scala concepts and idioms along the way. You will also learn how to browse the Scaladoc documentation at a beginner’s level.

Highlights of this introduction are:

• Using the Scala interpreter

• Defining variables with var and val

• Numeric types

• Using operators and functions

• Navigating Scaladoc