Best Practices in Scala Programming

Best Practices in Scala Programming

by Joshua Backfield
Released June 2016
Publisher(s): Infinite Skills
ISBN: 9781491959268

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Video description

Anyone starting a project in Scala, expanding a Scala project, or looking to establish coding standards as a means for helping junior Scala programmers come up to speed, will value this overview of Scala best practices by Scala expert Joshua Backfield.

Backfield's extensive experience in both object-oriented programming and functional programming make him a Scala authority. He has ported multiple native C applications to Scala, introduced many coworkers to Scala, and taught them the underlying functional programming concepts. He uses that experience to offer a set of Scala guidelines that should make your Scala code base as great as it can be.

  • Review and master the coding standards used by expert Scala programmers
  • Learn methods for ensuring that junior level programmers adhere to coding standards
  • Understand the norms for var and val usages and functions as objects
  • Review standards for immutable vs. mutable data structures and for pattern matching
  • Master axioms in OOP for use cases, instance methods, and mixing vs. deep inheritance
  • Learn standards for advanced features like avoiding postfix notation and dynamic typing
  • Understand best practices for syntax, concurrency, and self-documenting code
Joshua F. Backfield, author of the O'Reilly title Becoming Functional: Steps for Transforming Into a Functional Programmer, has been a Senior Software Engineer at SPARC and Dell SecureWorks. In addition to Scala, his specialties include: Linux, LiftWeb, Squeryl, Java, Spring MVC, Spring, JAX-WS, C, C++, Perl, MySQL, BSD Socket, Functional Programming, and Akka. He holds an M.S. in Computer Science from DePaul University and a B.S. in Electronic Systems from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Welcome To The Course 00:01:50
    2. About The Author 00:00:45
  2. Using Val And Var
    1. Overview Of Val And Var 00:01:08
    2. Common Usages Of Val 00:05:45
    3. Common Usages Of Var 00:05:28
    4. Using Var Vs. Mutable Datatypes 00:07:18
    5. Using Var In Loop Contexts 00:05:53
  3. Functions As Objects
    1. Storing Defs Inside Of Vars 00:04:01
    2. Storing Functions In Lists And Maps 00:05:26
    3. Abstract Function Bodies When Possible 00:06:21
    4. Functions Should Be Testable 00:04:45
  4. Immutable Vs. Mutable
    1. Using Mutable Data Structures 00:05:14
    2. Using Immutable Data Structures 00:04:48
  5. Pattern Matching
    1. Do Not Pattern Match For All Statements 00:03:09
    2. Cover All Outcomes Of A Pattern Match 00:05:07
    3. Prefer Value Matches Over Guards When Possible 00:05:16
    4. Prefer To Map/Filter Over An Option Rather Than Pattern Matching 00:06:38
    5. Prefer Pattern Matching To Type Casting 00:04:41
  6. Lazy Val
    1. Cost Of A Lazy Val 00:05:51
    2. Common Usages Of Lazy Val 00:05:12
    3. Using A Factory And Lazy Val Pattern 00:03:19
  7. Oop
    1. Useless Traits 00:04:19
    2. Using Case Classes Effectively 00:02:47
    3. Instance Methods Invoking Static Methods 00:03:32
    4. No Classes Inside Of Package Objects 00:03:27
    5. Prefer Mixing Over Deep Inheritance 00:07:48
  8. Syntax
    1. Do Not Use The Return Keyword 00:05:29
    2. Do Not Use Exceptions For Validation And Flow Of Control 00:08:56
    3. Do Not Use Null 00:04:07
    4. Do Not Use Option.Get 00:03:36
    5. Explicit Return Types 00:04:27
  9. Concurrency
    1. Prefer The Actor Model Over Manual Runnable/Thread 00:05:44
    2. Always Prefer A Single Producer 00:05:22
    3. Thread Safety Of Public Apis 00:04:31
    4. Blocking I/O On A Separate Thread Pool 00:09:46
    5. Futures Are Not The End Answer 00:04:56
    6. Prefer An Ask Over Exposing Internal Actor Workings 00:05:39
    7. Actors Should Only Accept Data 00:06:36
  10. Advanced Language Features
    1. Avoid Postfix Notation 00:05:41
    2. Avoid Implicit 00:09:44
    3. Avoid Complex Structural Typing 00:06:17
    4. Avoid Dynamic Typing 00:07:11
  11. General Programming
    1. Proper Naming Of Variables And Functions 00:04:07
    2. Long Line Splitting 00:07:48
    3. Return Types For Methods 00:03:04
    4. Catch Exceptions When Possible 00:03:15
    5. Self-Documenting Code 00:04:43
  12. Conclusion
    1. Wrap Up And Thank You 00:01:04

Product information

  • Title: Best Practices in Scala Programming
  • Author(s): Joshua Backfield
  • Release date: June 2016
  • Publisher(s): Infinite Skills
  • ISBN: 9781491959268