Programming in Scala
by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, Bill Venners · first published 2008
57% recommend39% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Systematic introduction to Scala by its creator, written for people who already program. Explains functional concepts and the language's philosophy clearly, and suits those moving from Java, PHP or other OO languages.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
Scala for the impatient
Cay S. Horstmann
Recommended by 31 · mentioned by 3931 recommend · 39 mention31 recommend · 3931 recommend
2010–2022Programming Scala
Dean Wampler, Alex Payne
Recommended by 9 · mentioned by 259 recommend · 25 mention9 recommend · 259 recommend
2011–2015Scala in depth
Joshua D. Suereth
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 54 recommend · 5 mention4 recommend · 54 recommend
2013–2026Functional Programming In Scala
Paul Chiusano
Recommended by 33 · mentioned by 5333 recommend · 53 mention33 recommend · 5333 recommend
2010–2023A little history of the world
E. H. Gombrich
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 66 recommend · 6 mention6 recommend · 66 recommend
2009–2024Algorithms in a nutshell
George T. Heineman
Recommended by 12 · mentioned by 2112 recommend · 21 mention12 recommend · 2112 recommend
2010–2018Effective Perl programming
Joseph N. Hall
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 75 recommend · 7 mention5 recommend · 75 recommend
2008–2021Network Algorithmics,
George Varghese
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 98 recommend · 9 mention8 recommend · 98 recommend
…book (enough to get you started) is available from Typesafe's website: http://blog.typesafe.com/free-pdf-from-typesafe-scala-for-th... You also cannot write about learning resource, without mentioning "Programming in Scala" by Odersky, a wonderful book also meant for human beings. Its only problem is that it's a tome of information and you may not have the patience for that, but it's not a hard to digest book so if you've…
on “Graham’s Guide to Learning Scala” ↗…object oriented programming to functional programming. I read Programming Clojure and I feel like I know the language, but I'm still working on thinking in terms of functional programming. Interestingly, Programming in Scala has helped some. The hybrid functional/object oriented approach has helped introduce functional concepts with a language that doesn't seem so foreign. It can be difficult to pick up a completely different…
on “Ask HN: Thinking in Functional programming” ↗I found it essential to read Martin Odersky's Programming in Scala book - if you haven't then I recommend it. It makes many things clear that can be hard to pick up using only the free online resources. There's also a new docs site and it's getting better all the time:…
on “True Scala complexity ” ↗> You also cannot write about learning resource, without mentioning "Programming in Scala" by Odersky, a wonderful book also meant for human beings. Its only problem is that it's a tome of information and you may not have the patience for that, but it's not a hard to digest book so if you've…
on “Graham’s Guide to Learning Scala” ↗Totally forgot to mention the standard library, which is getting quite big. Just yesterday I read the chapter on parser combinators. Good book :) Although I haven't encountered mentions of Akka in Programming in Scala by Odersky. There is a chapter on Actors but I skipped it and went straight to http://akka.io Btw, for technical books I'm using an iPad, as you can read PDFs with colors on it and it's easier to go…
on “Graham’s Guide to Learning Scala” ↗…reasons. Java might be awful, but the JVM is a beast. >Though my tip though for the long term replacement of javac is Scala. I'm very impressed with it! I can honestly say if someone had shown me the Programming in Scala book by by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon & Bill Venners back in 2003 I'd probably have never created Groovy. -James Strachan
on “If you were building a startup today, what would you use?” ↗Odersky's Programming in Scala is a fantastic book, but unfortunately so far as I know it has not been updated for the last couple of versions of the language and libraries which have some significant changes. Still, it stands out…
on “Show HN: Try Scala in your browser” ↗"I can honestly say if someone had shown me the Programming in Scala book by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon & Bill Venners back in 2003 I'd probably have never created Groovy." http://macstrac.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/scala-as-long-term-re...
on “Kotlin 1.0 Released: Pragmatic Language for JVM and Android” ↗"Programming in Scala" by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, Bill Venners. Very easy read, explains a lot of functional programming concepts. This book made me a fan of Scala and functional programming.
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗While definitely not small, the stairway book, "Programming in Scala" by Odersky, mentioned in the article, is an excellent tutorial style book. The second edition was just released in January.
on “Blunt and necessary review of programming language books.” ↗- Programming in Scala by Odersky - The Data Warehouse by Kimball - Web Analytics 2.0 by Kaushik - Quality Score in High Resolution by Danuloff
on “Ask HN: What's on your summer reading list? ” ↗Programming in Scala has a very straightforward explanation of for comprehensions. Mysteriously, almost every other explanation I read left me more confused than before. I don't know why there are so many poor and/or partial…
on “Why Scala seems difficult but really isn’t” ↗Best book is hard. Best technical book is either: Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming: http://www.amzn.com/0262220695 or: Programming in Scala: http://www.amzn.com/0981531644
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗…lot of core developers and momentum, especially the project lead at most of the language's development: "In July 2009, Strachan wrote on his blog that "I can honestly say if someone had shown me the Programming in Scala book by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon & Bill Venners back in 2003 I'd probably have never created Groovy."[1] Strachan left the project silently a year before the Groovy 1.0 release in 2007."
on “Ask HN: Is Grails dying?” ↗I recommend Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0981531644/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Clear and well written.
on “Why Learn Scala in 2013?” ↗