IntelliJ is very good for Scala, more responsive too. One of the intellij plugin updates did get very confused and was falsely highlighting errors in my project, haven't checked for a more recent update, but it was fairly recent. Glad to see the eclipse plugin getting some tlc, since most java devs love using eclipse even in cases where it's not the best choice.
A good post, recommending the use of Scala. I do agree with his point about the differences between scala collections and java ones. Interfacing with java libs which return java collections often requires conversions to scala collections before I can use the full power of scala. That said I'd still pick Scala any day of the week. The Scala book he references is surprisingly good, I bought it recently.
There are other factors which aren't typically considered. The latency of someone walking from the head of the single queue to the cashier each time matters, especially if the person at the front isn't alert or is confused by trying to figure out which till to go to. People are smart enough to pick short queues to join and there is no latency. Also psychology, nobody wants to join a long queue even if it moves fast, they go to another store.
Time spent: zilch, perhaps because most of my dependencies are java libs not scala ones. Like many Java devs starting out using Scala as a 'better java' which means adding more scala libs over time. It's definitely very pleasant to code in Scala vs Java, def more productive, to a surprising extent even. The compatibility issue needs to be addressed though.
As a long time Java programmer I've found that Scala had made programming fun again. As much a I like Java I find coding in Scala more enjoyable. I am constantly surprised by the number of colleagues who have taken an intense interest in this language.
IntelliJ is very impressive. Only started using it when I noticed how good its Scala plugin is. Feels like the level of polish I'm used to with Java editors. Code completion, refactoring etc.
I bought the DX for the large screen so I can read programming books and pdfs on e ink. I like some of the artwork, esp the one of the fish. I think the kindle 4 smaller devices have more contemporary screen savers.
I found Neal Gafter's response to Stephen's blog rather telling:
blog.joda.org/2011/11/real-life-scala-feedback-from-yammer.html?showComment=1322613312501&m=1#c6062812671177626424
If Ubuntu can get unity very responsive and polished I'll give it another go. Ever since unity came out i've overheard a disturbing number of people complaining about stability and just the user experience in general.
I think quite a few java devs, myself included, are starting to use scala as a 'better java'. After a decade or more of java coding we're looking for something more expressive which isn't a scripting language.
There was a recent survey which asked java devs which jvm languages they were taking a serious look at. Scala came out on top with groovy as the runner up. Kotlin was an also ran. Survey results:
aftershox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/JVM_Survey_Responses.png
You've repeated those sentiments up and down this thread. Personally I don't see much difference between the two, even syntactically. I've seen scala starting to get a foothold at my organisation, but haven't heard of anyone discussing Kotlin. What is also interesting is doing a trends search for scala jobs at indeed.com It looks like Scala has started to get a small but very rapidly growing slice of the job market
I've found the open source version of intellij + scala plugin most impressive. Reliable code completion and everthing i've come to expect from a java IDE. I've had much less success with scala plugins for Eclipse and Netbeans. Without the intellij plugin for Scala I wouldn't have chosen Scala.
I'd have to agree. One of the main benefits touted for guava in this article is the ability to use java libs with cleaner syntax. Scala already enables us to do that, and a lot more. I've coded java for the last 12 years, but have to admit there's no denying that there are cleaner ways of getting things done in Scala, Ruby, Python etc. of those 3 scala is the only one fast enough to be taken seriously.