Scala: New Netbeans 6.5 plugin

There is a new version of a Netbeans 6.5 plugin for Scala programming.

The Scala plugin already seems quite useful, and it's getting better and better for each new version.

Check it out here. This is a link to the blog of the author of the plugin.

By the way, Netbeans 6.5 was just released too.

Scala: The Map += method expects a Tuple: += ((k, v))

In Scala, you use the += method to add a key-value pair to a Map. The key-value pair should be in the form of a Tuple, or a Pair. You can use different syntax for such pairs: ("year", 2008), "year" -> 2008, Tuple2("year", 2008) or Pair("year", 2008):

scala> ("year",2008) == "year" -> 2008
res0: Boolean = true

scala> "year" -> 2008 == Pair("year", 2008)
res1: Boolean = true

scala> Pair("year", 2008) == Tuple2("year", 2008)
res2: Boolean = true

Thus, a few different but equal ways of adding a key-value pair to a Map:

scala> val map = new scala.collection.mutable.HashMap[String,Int]
map: scala.collection.mutable.HashMap[String,Int] = Map()

scala> map += (("year",2008))  //Notice the parentheses
scala> map += ("year" -> 2008)
scala> map += Pair("year",2008)
scala> map += Tuple2("year", 2008)

However, this one fails, because of missing parentheses:

scala> map += ("year",2008)
:6: error: type mismatch;
found   : java.lang.String("year")
required: (String, Int)
map+=("year",2008)
^

You can check out, e.g., this and this thread on the Scala mailing list.

Scala: Converting Java collections into their Scala counterparts

In the scala.collection.jcl library, you'll find Scala wrappers, adding Scala methods to Java collections. This means that a Java collection (e.g., an ArrayList) will be converted to work as a Scala collection, making it possible to call foreach on a ArrayList, etc:

import scala.collection.jcl.Conversions._

val a = new java.util.ArrayList[String]
a.add("Asa")
a.add("nisi")
a.add("masa")

// foreach now works on a Java List:
a.foreach(println)

Simlarily, you can now call .mkString on a Java list:

// Let's use mkString to print the
// ListArray contents as a Prolog spell/3 fact:

println(a.mkString("spell('", "', '", "')."))

// -> spell('Asa', 'nisi', 'masa').

See this Scala mailing list thread.

Scala: You cannot run a companion object as a stand-alone program

Update: In Scala 2.8, the below is no longer true. A companion object can now work as the entry point of an application.

===============================

In the Scala programming language, a companion object is an object with the same name as a class in the same source file. (Scala's companion objects can be used similar to Java's static methods.)

An object definition on its own can function as the entry point for running a Scala program. Compiling and running this object works fine:

object heyYouTheRocksteadyCrew{
    def main(args :Array[String]) {
     println("Make a break!")
 }
}

However, if you try to run the same object when it is a companion object to a class with the same name, this will result in an exception:

class heyYouTheRocksteadyCrew{}

object heyYouTheRocksteadyCrew{
 def main(args :Array[String]) {
     println("Make a move!")
 }
}

java.lang.NoSuchMethodException:
heyYouTheRocksteadyCrew.main([Ljava.lang.String;)

The above is true of the current release, 2.7.2.final. (Until this is fixed, these guys will not be too happy about any stupid heyYouTheRocksteadyCrew-exception...!)

There is at least one thread about the above on the Scala mailing list.