Scala

I've been reading the “Scala for Java Refugees” series. I'm amazed by the power of this language. Tuples, closure, etc, everything that annoys me about Java is 'fixed'. The language itself is a bit overwhelming, reminds me of university with its magical and impressive calculus notations.

Reading on the implicit type conversion in serie 6, I got similar feeling when reading on AOP for the first time. It might become complex to understand the code, especially in the case of Scala where a smart compiler can find paths the developer has not thought off.

Probably the answer is the same as with AOP, use it scarce, wise and effective. In other words not all over the place, but where it pays off, eg security, transactions, all those clear cross cutting concerns.

I'm impressed by the expressive power of the language. On ScalaTest the expect construct is close to natural language (ok, a bit exaggerated). The freedom it gives to clearly state the intent, is something you never get with Java.