Hidden features of Scala

Question

What are the hidden features of Scala that every Scala developer should be aware of?

One hidden feature per answer, please.

Answer 1

@switch annotation in Scala 2.8:

An annotation to be applied to a match expression. If present, the compiler will verify that the match has been compiled to a tableswitch or lookupswitch, and issue an error if it instead compiles into a series of conditional expressions.

Example:

scala> val n = 3
n: Int = 3

scala> import annotation.switch
import annotation.switch

scala> val s = (n: @switch) match {
     |   case 3 => "Three"
     |   case _ => "NoThree"
     | }
<console>:6: error: could not emit switch for @switch annotated match
       val s = (n: @switch) match {

Answer 2

Implicit definitions, particularly conversions.

For example, assume a function which will format an input string to fit to a size, by replacing the middle of it with "...":

def sizeBoundedString(s: String, n: Int): String = {
  if (n < 5 && n < s.length) throw new IllegalArgumentException
  if (s.length > n) {
    val trailLength = ((n - 3) / 2) min 3
    val headLength = n - 3 - trailLength
    s.substring(0, headLength)+"..."+s.substring(s.length - trailLength, s.length)
  } else s
}

You can use that with any String, and, of course, use the toString method to convert anything. But you could also write it like this:

def sizeBoundedString[T](s: T, n: Int)(implicit toStr: T => String): String = {
  if (n < 5 && n < s.length) throw new IllegalArgumentException
  if (s.length > n) {
    val trailLength = ((n - 3) / 2) min 3
    val headLength = n - 3 - trailLength
    s.substring(0, headLength)+"..."+s.substring(s.length - trailLength, s.length)
  } else s
}

And then, you could pass classes of other types by doing this:

implicit def double2String(d: Double) = d.toString

Now you can call that function passing a double:

sizeBoundedString(12345.12345D, 8)

The last argument is implicit, and is being passed automatically because of the implicit de declaration. Furthermore, "s" is being treated like a String inside sizeBoundedString because there is an implicit conversion from it to String.

Implicits of this type are better defined for uncommon types to avoid unexpected conversions. You can also explictly pass a conversion, and it will still be implicitly used inside sizeBoundedString:

sizeBoundedString(1234567890L, 8)((l : Long) => l.toString)

You can also have multiple implicit arguments, but then you must either pass all of them, or not pass any of them. There is also a shortcut syntax for implicit conversions:

def sizeBoundedString[T <% String](s: T, n: Int): String = {
  if (n < 5 && n < s.length) throw new IllegalArgumentException
  if (s.length > n) {
    val trailLength = ((n - 3) / 2) min 3
    val headLength = n - 3 - trailLength
    s.substring(0, headLength)+"..."+s.substring(s.length - trailLength, s.length)
  } else s
}

This is used exactly the same way.

Implicits can have any value. They can be used, for instance, to hide library information. Take the following example, for instance:

case class Daemon(name: String) {
  def log(msg: String) = println(name+": "+msg)
}

object DefaultDaemon extends Daemon("Default")

trait Logger {
  private var logd: Option[Daemon] = None
  implicit def daemon: Daemon = logd getOrElse DefaultDaemon

  def logTo(daemon: Daemon) = 
    if (logd == None) logd = Some(daemon) 
    else throw new IllegalArgumentException

  def log(msg: String)(implicit daemon: Daemon) = daemon.log(msg)
}

class X extends Logger {
  logTo(Daemon("X Daemon"))

  def f = {
    log("f called")
    println("Stuff")
  }

  def g = {
    log("g called")(DefaultDaemon)
  }
}

class Y extends Logger {
  def f = {
    log("f called")
    println("Stuff")
  }
}

In this example, calling "f" in an Y object will send the log to the default daemon, and on an instance of X to the Daemon X daemon. But calling g on an instance of X will send the log to the explicitly given DefaultDaemon.

While this simple example can be re-written with overload and private state, implicits do not require private state, and can be brought into context with imports.

Answer 3

Implicit arguments in closures.

A function argument can be marked as implicit just as with methods. Within the scope of the body of the function the implicit parameter is visible and eligible for implicit resolution:

trait Foo { def bar }

trait Base {
  def callBar(implicit foo: Foo) = foo.bar
}

object Test extends Base {
  val f: Foo => Unit = { implicit foo =>
    callBar
  }
  def test = f(new Foo {
    def bar = println("Hello")
  })
}

Answer 4

Traits with abstract override methods are a feature in Scala that is as not widely advertised as many others. The intend of methods with the abstract override modifier is to do some operations and delegating the call to super. Then these traits have to be mixed-in with concrete implementations of their abstract override methods.

trait A {
  def a(s : String) : String
}

trait TimingA extends A {
  abstract override def a(s : String) = {
    val start = System.currentTimeMillis
    val result = super.a(s)
    val dur = System.currentTimeMillis-start
    println("Executed a in %s ms".format(dur))
    result
  }
}

trait ParameterPrintingA extends A {
  abstract override def a(s : String) = {
    println("Called a with s=%s".format(s))
    super.a(s)
  }
}

trait ImplementingA extends A {
  def a(s: String) = s.reverse
}

scala> val a = new ImplementingA with TimingA with ParameterPrintingA

scala> a.a("a lotta as")
Called a with s=a lotta as
Executed a in 0 ms
res4: String = sa attol a

While my example is really not much more than a poor mans AOP, I used these Stackable Traits much to my liking to build Scala interpreter instances with predefined imports, custom bindings and classpathes. The Stackable Traits made it possible to create my factory along the lines of new InterpreterFactory with JsonLibs with LuceneLibs and then have useful imports and scope varibles for the users scripts.

Answer 5

Case classes automatically mixin the Product trait, providing untyped, indexed access to the fields without any reflection:

case class Person(name: String, age: Int)

val p = Person("Aaron", 28)
val name = p.productElement(0) // name = "Aaron": Any
val age = p.productElement(1) // age = 28: Any
val fields = p.productIterator.toList // fields = List[Any]("Aaron", 28)

This feature also provides a simplified way to alter the output of the toString method:

case class Person(name: String, age: Int) {
   override def productPrefix = "person: "
}

// prints "person: (Aaron,28)" instead of "Person(Aaron, 28)"
println(Person("Aaron", 28)) 

Answer 6

You can define your own control structures. It's really just functions and objects and some syntactic sugar, but they look and behave like the real thing.

For example, the following code defines dont {...} unless (cond) and dont {...} until (cond):

def dont(code: => Unit) = new DontCommand(code)

class DontCommand(code: => Unit) {
  def unless(condition: => Boolean) =
    if (condition) code

  def until(condition: => Boolean) = {
    while (!condition) {}
    code
  }
}

Now you can do the following:

/* This will only get executed if the condition is true */
dont {
  println("Yep, 2 really is greater than 1.")
} unless (2 > 1) 

/* Just a helper function */
var number = 0;
def nextNumber() = {
  number += 1
  println(number)
  number
}

/* This will not be printed until the condition is met. */
dont {
  println("Done counting to 5!")
} until (nextNumber() == 5)