But is the bytecode generated by Java more efficient than the one generated by Scala (in comparable situations ofc) ?
And which reasons would make you choose Java over Scala?
And which reasons would make you choose Java over Scala?
Much more troubling:
- Some Scala idioms are just not as performant as the naive java implementations. Function passing can create lots of objects for instance.
- Some of Scala's "magic" features that allow for terse-ness can behind the scenes cause performance issues, that you might not expect without a clear understanding of what is going on. Implicit conversions for instance can also create tons of garbage.
- The Scala collections library, while improving some, has lots of performance gotchas. Collections that don't match modern hardware or implicit conversions that de-optimize operations can happen pretty easily.
Personally, I would choose Java over Scala if any of the following were true:
- You were going to have many different versions of your software in the wild.
- You had a constrained release cycle.
- You intended for artifacts to exist for long periods without change.
- You had specific backwards compatibility requirements.
- You had a large team.
- You had a team of highly varying skill sets.
That is to say, I'd only pick Scala if I were working on a project where I controlled the life cycle of the product, releases were common, backwards compatibility was not an issue, and my team was small, cohesive and experienced.
If those things weren't true, I might not pick Java, but I certainly wouldn't pick Scala.