[scala] Scala beginner

[SALEH AL-SHADLY]

Dear all,
am a Scala beginner. First i d to know about programming language
concepts that Scala based on. May anyone give me some hints about that?

with many regards
Saleh

[Christos KK Loverdos]

Hi Saleh,

You mean you took a look at the Scala website and were not satisfied  
with the info provided there, or you just lost yourself into the  
wealth of info?

I would suggest starting with

http://www.scala-lang.org/node/25

Then, the lists are open for any discussion you might wish to start,  
as a result of your experimentation with the language :)

BR & Happy Scala Programming!
Christos

On Jun 10, 2009, at 10:46 AM, SALEH AL-SHADLY wrote:

> Dear all,
> am a Scala beginner. First i d to know about programming language  
> concepts that Scala based on. May anyone give me some hints about  
> that?
>
> with many regards
> Saleh

--
  __~O
-\ <,       Christos KK Loverdos
(*)/ (*)      http://ckkloverdos.com

[Brian Clapper]

On 6/10/09 6:09 AM, Christos KK Loverdos wrote:

> Hi Saleh,
>
> You mean you took a look at the Scala website and were not satisfied
> with the info provided there, or you just lost yourself into the wealth
> of info?
>
> I would suggest starting with
>
> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/25
>
> Then, the lists are open for any discussion you might wish to start, as
> a result of your experimentation with the language :)
>
> BR & Happy Scala Programming!
> Christos
>
> On Jun 10, 2009, at 10:46 AM, SALEH AL-SHADLY wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>> am a Scala beginner. First i d to know about programming language
>> concepts that Scala based on. May anyone give me some hints about that?

For what it's worth, the web site *can* be a little intimidating, when you're
trying to figure out where to begin. I found the web site much more useful
once I'd purchased and worked my way through the "Programming in Scala" book.
Saleh, you ought to consider getting that book. I cannot recommend it enough.
There's a link on the scala-lang.org web site.
--
-Brian

Brian Clapper, http://www.clapper.org/bmc/

[andreas s.]

On 6/10/09 6:09 AM, Christos KK Loverdos wrote:
> Hi Saleh,
>
> You mean you took a look at the Scala website and were not satisfied
> with the info provided there, or you just lost yourself into the wealth
> of info?
>
I agree that the website is (absolutely) insufficient. There are different approaches how to improve the site i guess.

Example: I looked for some examples (advanced if possible) of the "for comprehension". I looked at the node(http://www.scala-lang.org/node/111) and did not find it very appealing.

In my Opinion starting from the first Page there should be "use case" inspired  Tour's of Scala

* Scala for Java Programmers
* Scala for functional Programmers
* Scala for Library Designers

I think most of the necessary information is already in form of articles/nodes available, it simply needs to be "linked" together. I know it is hard to provide code example, and to keep them up to date but in most case i use blogs for code examples since the site has not that many.
I wonder if there is a way to refrence to that code out there? There is so many good stuff out there.
Another nice thing i notice is the Scala User (Local) Groups. In most cases there is a introduction presentation. These slides differ quite a lot. I have seen some from the Paris or from Czech and other stuff.
These slides are good! IMO They should be referenced and maybe if the user groups communicate with each other you could find out what people who are new to scala are mostly interested in.  

Well i just noticed that the scala site got update and many if not all point above are fixed! Taht is most impressive! Still some room for the User Group slides maybe , i think those are in particular interesting for Scala Beginners since they where all created to give an introduction to scala for new users.

I also remember reading Slides that where directly aimed at java programmers. I think to that it would be worth to create a tour of scala for java programmers and a tour of scala for functional programmers.

[Trond Olsen]

The book is really good and I use it as a reference all the time. You'll be stuck without it.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 2:33 PM, Brian Clapper <bmc@...> wrote:

On 6/10/09 6:09 AM, Christos KK Loverdos wrote:
> Hi Saleh,
>
> You mean you took a look at the Scala website and were not satisfied
> with the info provided there, or you just lost yourself into the wealth
> of info?
>
> I would suggest starting with
>
> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/25
>
> Then, the lists are open for any discussion you might wish to start, as
> a result of your experimentation with the language :)
>
> BR & Happy Scala Programming!
> Christos
>
> On Jun 10, 2009, at 10:46 AM, SALEH AL-SHADLY wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>> am a Scala beginner. First i d to know about programming language
>> concepts that Scala based on. May anyone give me some hints about that?

For what it's worth, the web site *can* be a little intimidating, when you're
trying to figure out where to begin. I found the web site much more useful
once I'd purchased and worked my way through the "Programming in Scala" book.
Saleh, you ought to consider getting that book. I cannot recommend it enough.
There's a link on the scala-lang.org web site.
--
-Brian

Brian Clapper, http://www.clapper.org/bmc/

[Trond Olsen]

The pdf version that is.

On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 11:48 PM, Trond Olsen <tolsen77@...> wrote:

The book is really good and I use it as a reference all the time. You'll be stuck without it.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 2:33 PM, Brian Clapper <bmc@...> wrote:

On 6/10/09 6:09 AM, Christos KK Loverdos wrote:
> Hi Saleh,
>
> You mean you took a look at the Scala website and were not satisfied
> with the info provided there, or you just lost yourself into the wealth
> of info?
>
> I would suggest starting with
>
> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/25
>
> Then, the lists are open for any discussion you might wish to start, as
> a result of your experimentation with the language :)
>
> BR & Happy Scala Programming!
> Christos
>
> On Jun 10, 2009, at 10:46 AM, SALEH AL-SHADLY wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>> am a Scala beginner. First i d to know about programming language
>> concepts that Scala based on. May anyone give me some hints about that?

For what it's worth, the web site *can* be a little intimidating, when you're
trying to figure out where to begin. I found the web site much more useful
once I'd purchased and worked my way through the "Programming in Scala" book.
Saleh, you ought to consider getting that book. I cannot recommend it enough.
There's a link on the scala-lang.org web site.
--
-Brian

Brian Clapper, http://www.clapper.org/bmc/

[andreas s.]

somewhere at the end:
http://www.scala-lang.org/node/2200
"I found the book on Scala is a great read. I almost read it from cover to cover in one sitting, but it is not good for reference. The index is incomplete and so many of the language features are hard to find."

While i own the book myself ( haven't finished it yet, shame on me!), i concur that its nice introduction to some but often i need to look up things on the net.

[Ismael Juma]

On Mon, 2009-06-15 at 11:34 -0700, andreas s. wrote:
> somewhere at the end:
> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/2200
> "I found the book on Scala is a great read. I almost read it from cover to
> cover in one sitting, but it is not good for reference. The index is
> incomplete and so many of the language features are hard to find."

Personally, I just search the PDF. Relying on book index to find things
is something I have not done for a very long time.

Ismael

[andreas s.]

Ismael Juma wrote:

On Mon, 2009-06-15 at 11:34 -0700, andreas s. wrote:
> somewhere at the end:
> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/2200
> "I found the book on Scala is a great read. I almost read it from cover to
> cover in one sitting, but it is not good for reference. The index is
> incomplete and so many of the language features are hard to find."

Personally, I just search the PDF. Relying on book index to find things
is something I have not done for a very long time.

Ismael

But you did notice that Alex McGuire in the Interview said that about the book index? ( Just to be sure)

Personally i wished i had the PDF too ( because it gets updated?!) but its still nice to read the book in an easy moment without the computer.

regards andreas

[Bill Venners-3]

Hi Andreas,

I'm not sure what Alex is really referring to with respect to the
index. The index of Programming in Scala was as carefully created as
the rest of the book. It spans 26 pages. Each entry is broken down
into many subcategories that are specific and page numbers are given
for those. So you don't get a general entry with 25 page numbers you
need to search through. Perhaps he was looking for a few items that he
didn't find in the index, and concluded maybe prematurely it was not
useful as a reference.  (Or perhaps he was looking at a PDF PrePrint,
that didn't have an index. The index only appeared in the final
version.) But I'd imagine most of what most people look for in the
index would be in there in an easy to find spot.

It was hard to try and imagine every word people would try and look
up. One thing I wish I could figure out how to capture is index
"misses," when people look something up in there that isn't in there.
That would help me improve the index over time.

Bill

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:35 AM, andreas s. <andreas_scheinert@...> wrote:

>
>
>
> Ismael Juma wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 2009-06-15 at 11:34 -0700, andreas s. wrote:
> >> somewhere at the end:
> >> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/2200
> >> "I found the book on Scala is a great read. I almost read it from cover
> >> to
> >> cover in one sitting, but it is not good for reference. The index is
> >> incomplete and so many of the language features are hard to find."
> >
> > Personally, I just search the PDF. Relying on book index to find things
> > is something I have not done for a very long time.
> >
> > Ismael
> >
> >
> >
> But you did notice that Alex McGuire in the Interview said that about the
> book index? ( Just to be sure)
>
> Personally i wished i had the PDF too ( because it gets updated?!) but its
> still nice to read the book in an easy moment without the computer.
>
> regards andreas
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/-scala--Scala-beginner-tp23957424p24116772.html
> Sent from the Scala mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

--
Bill Venners
Artima, Inc.
http://www.artima.com

[Ismael Juma]

On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 11:35 -0700, andreas s. wrote:
> Ismael Juma wrote:
> > Personally, I just search the PDF. Relying on book index to find things
> > is something I have not done for a very long time.
> But you did notice that Alex McGuire in the Interview said that about the
> book index? ( Just to be sure)

Yes, that's why my quote includes the phrase "book index". My point was
that "Programming in Scala" can be a good reference if you have the PDF
(it could be in addition to the paper version) and use the search
function of your PDF reader.

> Personally i wished i had the PDF too ( because it gets updated?!) but its
> still nice to read the book in an easy moment without the computer.

I definitely agree that it's nice to read a book without a computer.
However, when using it as a reference, I'm almost always near a
computer. Maybe others use different approaches, but I made it clear in
my original statement that it was about my personal workflow.

Best,
Ismael

[andreas s.]

Hello Bill,

i think regarding the book index i can say that it's ok for me. But i think what alex wanted to say ( uh I'm guessing...) is that if you get used to access information via the web you have a lot of filter, sort and link options which, of course a book can't offer.
But i think the feedback option is a nice idea! I'm not sure how far you want to go there  ( special email address for feedback or something else?)

regards andreas

Bill Venners-3 wrote:

Hi Andreas,

I'm not sure what Alex is really referring to with respect to the
index. The index of Programming in Scala was as carefully created as
the rest of the book. It spans 26 pages. Each entry is broken down
into many subcategories that are specific and page numbers are given
for those. So you don't get a general entry with 25 page numbers you
need to search through. Perhaps he was looking for a few items that he
didn't find in the index, and concluded maybe prematurely it was not
useful as a reference.  (Or perhaps he was looking at a PDF PrePrint,
that didn't have an index. The index only appeared in the final
version.) But I'd imagine most of what most people look for in the
index would be in there in an easy to find spot.

It was hard to try and imagine every word people would try and look
up. One thing I wish I could figure out how to capture is index
"misses," when people look something up in there that isn't in there.
That would help me improve the index over time.

Bill

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:35 AM, andreas s. <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
>
>
> Ismael Juma wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 2009-06-15 at 11:34 -0700, andreas s. wrote:
> >> somewhere at the end:
> >> http://www.scala-lang.org/node/2200
> >> "I found the book on Scala is a great read. I almost read it from cover
> >> to
> >> cover in one sitting, but it is not good for reference. The index is
> >> incomplete and so many of the language features are hard to find."
> >
> > Personally, I just search the PDF. Relying on book index to find things
> > is something I have not done for a very long time.
> >
> > Ismael
> >
> >
> >
> But you did notice that Alex McGuire in the Interview said that about the
> book index? ( Just to be sure)
>
> Personally i wished i had the PDF too ( because it gets updated?!) but its
> still nice to read the book in an easy moment without the computer.
>
> regards andreas
> --
> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/-scala--Scala-beginner-tp23957424p24116772.html
> Sent from the Scala mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>



--
Bill Venners
Artima, Inc.
http://www.artima.com