I am looking at Akka related typesafe activator code and the following construct intrigued me:
Companion object:
object MarkerActor {
sealed trait MarkerMessage
case object Stop extends MarkerMessage
..
def objectMethod = print("hi from companion object")
}
Companion class: it imports the companion object methods:
class MarkerActor extends Actor with ActorLogging {
import MarkerActor._ // Comment this line to compare w or w/o import available
objectMethod // just to see if 'visible' within companion class
override def receive = {
case Stop => {
So.. that is a bit surprising. Why is there not a "special relationship" between the companion class/object allowing the class to "see" the object methods automatically?
Update I was a bit skeptical on this, and so went ahead and commented out the "import MarkerActor._" This resulted in "Symbol not found: Stop" errors in the Companion Class. So .. the import really is required.