Scala-style is a project mainly written in ..., it's free.
Daniel Spewak's Scala Style Guide
.. :mode=rest:
Scala Style Guide
In lieu of an official style guide from EPFL, or even an unofficial guide from a community site like Artima, this document is intended to outline some basic Scala stylistic guidelines which should be followed with more or less fervency. Wherever possible, this guide attempts to detail why a particular style is encouraged and how it relates to other alternatives. As with all style guides, treat this document as a list of rules to be broken. There are certainly times when alternative styles should be preferred over the ones given here.
This document is available in the following formats:
.. contents:: Table of Contents :depth: 2
.. sectnum::
Generally speaking, Scala seeks to mimic Java conventions to ease interoperability. When in doubt regarding the idiomatic way to express a particular concept, adopt conventions and idioms from the following languages (in this order):
Standard ML_For example, you should use Java's naming conventions for classes and methods, but SML's conventions for type annotation, Haskell's conventions for type parameter naming (except upper-case rather than lower) and Ruby's conventions for non-boolean accessor methods. Scala really is a hybrid language!
.. _Standard ML: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_ML
Indentation should follow the "2-space convention". Thus, instead of indenting like this::
// wrong!
class Foo {
def bar = ...
}You should indent like this::
// right!
class Foo {
def bar = ..
}The Scala language encourages a startling amount of nested scopes and logical blocks (function values and such). Do yourself a favor and don't penalize yourself syntactically for opening up a new block. Coming from Java, this style does take a bit of getting used to, but it is well worth the effort.
There are times when a single expression reaches a length where it becomes
unreadable to keep it confined to a single line (usually that length is anywhere
above 80 characters). In such cases, the preferred approach is to simply
split the expression up into multiple expressions by assigning intermediate results
to values or by using the pipeline operator_. However, this is not always a
practical solution.
When it is absolutely necessary to wrap an expression across more than one line, each successive line should be indented two spaces from the first. Also remember that Scala requires each "wrap line" to either have an unclosed parenthetical or to end with an infix binary function or operator in which the right parameter is not given::
val result = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +
7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 +
15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20Without this trailing operator, Scala will infer a semi-colon at the end of a line which was intended to wrap, throwing off the compilation sometimes without even so much as a warning.
.. _pipeline operator: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/134013/
When calling a method which takes numerous arguments (in the range of five or more), it is often necessary to wrap the method invocation onto multiple lines. In such cases, the wrapped lines should be indented so that each parameter lines up with the first::
foo(someVeryLongFieldName,
andAnotherVeryLongFieldName,
"this is a string",
3.1415)Great care should be taken to avoid these sorts of invocations well into the length of the line. More specifically, such an invocation should be avoided when each parameter would have to be indented more than 50 spaces to achieve alignment. In such cases, the invocation itself should be moved to the next line and indented two spaces::
// right!
val myOnerousAndLongFieldNameWithNoRealPoint =
foo(someVeryLongFieldName,
andAnotherVeryLongFieldName,
"this is a string",
3.1415)
// wrong!
val myOnerousAndLongFieldNameWithNoRealPoint = foo(someVeryLongFieldName,
andAnotherVeryLongFieldName,
"this is a string",
3.1415)Better yet, just try to avoid any method which takes more than two or three parameters!
Generally speaking, Scala uses "camelCase" naming conventions. That is, each
word (except possibly the first) is delimited by capitalizing its first letter.
Underscores (_) are heavily discouraged as they have special meaning within
the Scala syntax. Please note that there are a few important exceptions to this
guideline (as given below).
Classes should be named in the camelCase style with the very first letter of the name capitalized::
class MyFairLadyThis mimics the Java naming convention for classes.
Objects follow the class naming convention (camelCase with a capital first letter) except when attempting to mimic a package. This is a fairly rare case, but it does come up on occaision::
object ast {
sealed trait Expr
case class Plus(e1: Expr, e2: Expr) extends Expr
...
}In all other cases, objects should be named according to the class naming convention.
Scala packages should follow the Java package naming conventions::
// right!
package com.novell.coolness
// wrong!
package coolnessPlease note that this convention does occaisionally lead to problems when combined with Scala's nested packages feature. For example::
import net.liftweb._This import will actually fail to resolve in some contexts as the net package
may refer to the java.net package (or similar). To compensate for this, it
is often necessary to fully-qualify imports using the _root_ directive,
overriding any nested package resolves::
import _root_.net.liftweb._Do not overuse this directive. In general, nested package resolves are a good
thing and very helpful in reducing import clutter. Using _root_ not only
negates their benefit, but also introduces extra clutter in and of itself.
Developers using IntelliJ IDEA should be particularly wary as its Scala plugin
prefixes every import using _root_ by default.
Textual (alphabetic) names for methods should be in the camelCase style with the first letter lower-case::
def myFairMethod = ...This section is not a comprehensive guide to idiomatic methods in Scala. Further information may be found in the method invocation section.
Accessors/Mutators
Scala does *not* follow the Java convention of prepending ``set``/``get`` to
mutator and accessor methods (respectively). Instead, the following conventions
are used:
* For accessors of *most* boolean and non-boolean properties, the name of the
method should be the name of the property
* For accessors of *some* boolean properties, the name of the method may be the
capitalized name of the property with "``is``" prepended (e.g. ``isEmpty``).
This should only be the case when no corresponding mutator is provided. Please
note that the Lift_ convention of appending "``_?``" to boolean accessors is
non-standard and not used outside of the Lift framework.
* For mutators, the name of the method should be the name of the property with
"``_=``" appended. As long as a corresponding accessor with that particular
property name is defined on the enclosing type, this convention will enable
a call-site mutation syntax which mirrors assignment.
::
class Foo {
def bar = ...
def bar_=(bar: Bar) {
...
}
def isBaz = ...
}
val foo = new Foo
foo.bar // accessor
foo.bar = bar2 // mutator
foo.isBaz // boolean property
Quite unfortunately, these conventions fall afoul of the Java convention to name
the private fields encapsulated by accessors and mutators according to the
property they represent. For example::
public class Company {
private String name;
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
If we were to attempt to adopt this convention within Scala while observing the
accessor naming conventions given above, the Scala compiler would complain about
a naming colision between the ``name`` field and the ``name`` method. There are
a number of ways to avoid this problem and the community has yet to standardize
on any one of them. The following illustrates one of the less error-prone
conventions::
class Company {
private val _name: String = _
def name = _name
def name_=(name: String) {
_name = name
}
}
While Hungarian notation is terribly ugly, it does have the advantage of
disambiguating the ``_name`` field without cluttering the identifier. The
underscore is in the prefix position rather than the suffix to avoid any danger
of mistakenly typing ``name _`` instead of ``name_``. With heavy use of Scala's
type inference, such a mistake could potentially lead to a very confusing error.
Note that fields may actually be used in a number of situations where accessors
and mutators would be required in languages like Java. Always prefer fields over
methods when given the choice.
.. _Lift: http://liftweb.com
ParenthesesUnlike Ruby, Scala attaches significance to whether or not a method is declared with parentheses (only applicable to methods of arity_-0). For example::
def foo1() = ...
def foo2 = ...These are different methods at compile-time. While foo1 can be
called with or without the parentheses, foo2 may not be called
with parentheses.
Thus, it is actually quite important that proper guidelines be observed regarding when it is appropriate to declare a method without parentheses and when it is not.
Methods which act as accessors of any sort (either encapsulating a field or a
logical property) should be declared without parentheses except if they have side effects.
While Ruby and Lift use a ! to indicate this, the usage of parens is preferred [#dslnote].
Further, the callsite should follow the declaration; if declared with parentheses, call with parentheses. While there is temptation to save a few characters, if you follow this guideline, your code will be much more readable and maintainable.
::
// doesn't change state, call as birthdate def birthdate = firstName
// updates our internal state, call as age() def age() = { _age = updateAge(birthdate) _age }
.. _arity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arity
.. [#dsl_note] Please note that fluid APIs and internal domain-specific languages have a tendency to break the guidelines given below for the sake of syntax. Such exceptions should not be considered a violation so much as a time when these rules do not apply. In a DSL, syntax should be paramount over convention.
Operators
Avoid! Despite the degree to which Scala facilitates this area of API design,
operator definition should not be undertaken lightly, particularly when the
operator itself is non-standard (for example, ``>>#>>``). As a general rule,
operators have two valid use-cases:
* Domain-specific languages (e.g. ``actor1 ! Msg``)
* Logically mathematical operations (e.g. ``a + b`` or ``c :: d``)
In the former case, operators may be used with impunity so long as the syntax is
actually beneficial. However, in the course of standard API design, operators
should be strictly reserved for purely-functional operations. Thus, it is
acceptable to define a ``>>=`` operator for joining two monads, but it is not
acceptable to define a ``<<`` operator for writing to an output stream. The
former is mathematically well-defined and side-effect free, while the latter is
neither of these.
Operator definition should be considered an advanced feature in Scala, to be used
only by those most well-versed in its pitfalls. Without care, excessive operator
overloading can easily transform even the simplest code into symbolic soup.
Fields
------
Field names should be in camelCase with the first letter lower-case::
val myFairField = ...
Type Parameters (generics)
--------------------------
Type parameters are typically a single upper-case letter (from the English
alphabet). Conventionally, parameters blindly start at ``A`` and ascend up to
``Z`` as necessary. This contrasts with the Java convention of using ``T``, ``K``,
``V`` and ``E``. For example::
class List[A] {
def map[B](f: A => B): List[B] = ...
}
Higher-KindsWhile higher-kinds are theoretically no different from regular type parameters
(except that their kind_ is at least *=>* rather than simply *), their
naming conventions do differ somewhat. Generally, higher-kinded parameters are
two upper-case characters, usually repeated. For example::
class HOMap[AA[_], BB[_]] { ... }It is also (sometimes) acceptable to give full, descriptive names to higher-kinded
parameters. In this case, use all-caps to make it clear you are not referring
to a class or trait. Thus, the following would be an equally valid definition of HOMap::
class HOMap[KEY[_], VALUE[_]] { ... }In such cases, the type naming conventions should be observed.
.. kind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind(type_theory)
Type aliases follow the same naming conventions as classes. For example::
type StringList = List[String]Annotations, such as @volatile should be in camel-case, with the first letter
being lower case::
class cloneable extends StaticAnnotationThis convention is used throughout the Scala library, even though it is not consistent with Java annotations.
Because of Scala's roots in the functional languages, it is quite normal for local field names to be extremely brief::
def add(a: Int, b: Int) = a + bWhile this would be bad practice in languages like Java, it is good practice in Scala. This convention works because properly-written Scala methods are quite short, only spanning a single expression and rarely going beyond a few lines. Very few local fields are ever used (including parameters), and so there is no need to contrive long, descriptive names. This convention substantially improves the brevity of most Scala sources.
This convention only applies to method parameters and local fields. Anything which affects the public interface of a class should be given a fully-descriptive name.
Use type inference as much as possible. You should almost never annotate the type
of a val field as their type will be immediately evident in their value::
val name = "Daniel"However, type inference has a way of coming back to haunt you when used on non-trivial methods which are part of the public interface. Just for the sake of safety, you should annotate all public methods in your class.
Function Values
Function values support a special case of type inference which is worth calling
out on its own::
val ls: List[String] = ...
ls map { str => str.toInt }
In cases where Scala already knows the type of the function value we are declaring,
there is no need to annotate the parameters (in this case, ``str``). This is an
intensely helpful inference and should be preferred whenever possible. Note that
implicit conversions which operate on function values will nullify this inference,
forcing the explicit annotation of parameter types.
"Void" MethodsThe exception to the "annotate everything public" rule is methods which return
Unit. Any method which returns Unit should be declared using Scala's
syntactic sugar for that case::
def printName() {
println("Novell")
}This compiles into::
def printName(): Unit = {
println("Novell")
}You should prefer the former style (without the annotation or the equals sign)
as it reduces errors and improves readability. For the record, it is also
possible (and encouraged!) to declare abstract methods returning Unit with an
analogous syntax::
def printName() // abstract def for printName(): UnitType annotations should be patterned according to the following template::
value: TypeThis is the style adopted by most of the Scala standard library and all of Martin Odersky's examples. The space between value and type helps the eye in accurately parsing the syntax. The reason to place the colon at the end of the value rather than the beginning of the type is to avoid confusion in cases such as this one::
value :::This is actually valid Scala, declaring a value to be of type ::. Obviously,
the prefix-style annotation colon muddles things greatly. The other option is
the "two space" syntax::
value : TypeThis syntax is preferable to the prefix-style, but it is not widely adopted due to its increased verbosity.
Type ascription is often confused with type annotation, as the syntax in Scala is identical. The following are examples of ascription:
Nil: List[String]Set(values: _*)"Daniel": AnyRefAscription is basically just an up-cast performed at compile-time for the sake of
the type checker. Its use is not common, but it does happen on occasion. The
most often seen case of ascription is invoking a varargs method with a single
Seq parameter. This is done by ascribing the _* type (as in the second
example above).
Ascription follows the type annotation conventions; a space follows the colon.
Function types should be declared with a space between the parameter type, the arrow and the return type::
def foo(f: Int => String) = ...
def bar(f: (Boolean, Double) => List[String]) = ...Parentheses should be omitted wherever possible (e.g. methods of arity-1, such
as Int => String).
Arity-1
Scala has a special syntax for declaring types for functions of arity-1. For
example::
def map[B](f: A => B) = ...
Specifically, the parentheses may be omitted from the parameter type. Thus, we
did *not* declare ``f`` to be of type "``(A) => B``, as this would have been
needlessly verbose. Consider the more extreme example::
// wrong!
def foo(f: (Int) => (String) => (Boolean) => Double) = ...
// right!
def foo(f: Int => String => Boolean => Double) = ...
By omitting the parentheses, we have saved six whole characters and dramatically
improved the readability of the type expression.
Structural Types
----------------
Structural types should be declared on a single line if they are less than 50
characters in length. Otherwise, they should be split across multiple lines and
(usually) assigned to their own type alias::
// wrong!
def foo(a: { def bar(a: Int, b: Int): String; val baz: List[String => String] }) = ...
// right!
private type FooParam = {
val baz: List[String => String]
def bar(a: Int, b: Int): String
}
def foo(a: FooParam) = ...
Simpler structural types (under 50 characters) may be declared and used inline::
def foo(a: { val bar: String }) = ...
When declaring structural types inline, each member should be separated by a
semi-colon and a single space, the opening brace should be *followed* by a space
while the closing brace should be *preceded* by a space (as demonstrated in both
examples above).
Nested Blocks
=============
Curly Braces
------------
Opening curly braces (``{``) must be on the same line as the declaration they
represent::
def foo = {
...
}
Technically, Scala's parser *does* support GNU-style notation with opening braces
on the line following the declaration. However, the parser is not terribly
predictable when dealing with this style due to the way in which semi-colon
inference is implemented. Many headaches will be saved by simply following the
curly brace convention demonstrated above.
Parentheses
-----------
In the rare cases when parenthetical blocks wrap across lines, the opening and
closing parentheses should be unspaced and kept on the same lines as their content
(Lisp-style)::
(this + is a very ++ long *
expression)
The only exception to this rule is when defining grammars using parser combinators::
lazy val e: Parser[Int] = (
e ~ "+" ~ e ^^ { (e1, _, e2) => e1 + e2 }
| e ~ "-" ~ e ^^ { (e1, _, e2) => e1 - e2 }
| """d+""".r ^^ { _.toInt }
)
Parser combinators are an internal DSL, however, meaning that many of these style
guidelines are inapplicable.
Declarations
============
All class/object/trait members should be declared interleaved with newlines.
The only exceptions to this rule are ``var`` and ``val``. These may be declared
without the intervening newline, but only if none of the fields hava scaladoc
and if all of the fields have simple (max of 20-ish chars, one line) definitions::
class Foo {
val bar = 42
val baz = "Daniel"
def doSomething() { ... }
def add(x: Int, y: Int) = x + y
}
Fields should *precede* methods in a scope. The only exception is if the ``val``
has a block definition (more than one expression) and performs opertions which
may be deemed "method-like" (e.g. computing the length of a ``List``). In such
cases, the non-trivial ``val`` may be declared at a later point in the file as
logical member ordering would dictate. This rule *only* applies to ``val`` and
``lazy val``! It becomes very difficult to track changing aliases if ``var``
declarations are strewn throughout class file.
Methods
-------
Methods should be declared according to the following pattern::
def foo(bar: Baz): Bin = expr
The only exceptions to this rule are methods which return ``Unit``. Such methods
should use Scala's syntactic sugar to avoid accidentally confusing return types::
def foo(bar: Baz) { // return type is Unit
expr
}
ModifiersMethod modifiers should be given in the following order (when each is applicable):
override)protected, private)final)def::
@Transaction
@throws(classOf[IOException])
override protected final def foo() {
...
}Body
When a method body comprises a single expression which is less than 30 (or so)
characters, it should be given on a single line with the method::
def add(a: Int, b: Int) = a + b
When the method body is a single expression *longer* than 30 (or so) characters
but still shorter than 70 (or so) characters, it should be given on the following
line, indented two spaces::
def sum(ls: List[String]) =
(ls map { _.toInt }).foldLeft(0) { _ + _ }
The distinction between these two cases is somewhat artificial. Generally
speaking, you should choose whichever style is more readable on a case-by-case
basis. For example, your method declaration may be very long, while the expression
body may be quite short. In such a case, it may be more readable to put the
expression on the next line rather than making the declaration line unreadably
long.
When the body of a method cannot be concisely expressed in a single line or is
of a non-functional nature (some mutable state, local or otherwise), the body
must be enclosed in braces::
def sum(ls: List[String]) = {
val ints = ls map { _.toInt }
ints.foldLeft(0) { _ + _ }
}
Methods which contain a single ``match`` expression should be declared in the
following way::
// right!
def sum(ls: List[Int]): Int = ls match {
case hd :: tail => hd + sum(tail)
case Nil => 0
}
*Not* like this::
// wrong!
def sum(ls: List[Int]): Int = {
ls match {
case hd :: tail => hd + sum(tail)
case Nil => 0
}
}
CurryingIn general, you should only curry functions if there is a good reason to do so. Curried functions have a more verbose declaration and invocation syntax and are harder for less-experienced Scala developers to understand. When you do declare a curried function, you should take advantage of Scala's syntactic sugar involving multiple groups of parentheses::
// right!
def add(a: Int)(b: Int) = a + b
// wrong!
def add(a: Int) = { b: Int => a + b }Scala will compile both of these declarations into the same result. However, the former is slightly easier to read than the latter.
Higher-Order Functions
It's worth keeping in mind when declaring higher-order functions the fact that
Scala allows a somewhat nicer syntax for such functions at call-site when the
function parameter is curried as the last argument. For example, this is the
``foldl`` function in SML::
fun foldl (f: ('b * 'a) -> 'b) (init: 'b) (ls: 'a list) = ...
In Scala, the preferred style is the exact inverse::
def foldLeft[A, B](ls: List[A])(init: B)(f: (B, A) => B) = ...
By placing the function parameter *last*, we have enabled invocation syntax like
the following::
foldLeft(List(1, 2, 3, 4))(0) { _ + _ }
The function value in this invocation is not wrapped in parentheses; it is
syntactically quite disconnected from the function itself (``foldLeft``). This
style is preferred for its brevity and cleanliness.
Fields
------
Fields should follow the declaration rules for methods, taking special note of
access modifier ordering and annotation conventions.
Function Values
---------------
Scala provides a number of different syntactic options for declaring function
values. For example, the following declarations are exactly equivalent:
1. ``val f1 = { (a: Int, b: Int) => a + b }``
2. ``val f2 = (a: Int, b: Int) => a + b``
3. ``val f3 = (_: Int) + (_: Int)``
4. ``val f4: (Int, Int) => Int = { _ + _ }``
Of these styles, (1) and (4) are to be preferred at all times. (2) appears shorter
in this example, but whenever the function value spans multiple lines (as is
normally the case), this syntax becomes extremely unweildy. Similarly, (3) is
concise, but obtuse. It is difficult for the untrained eye to decipher the fact
that this is even producing a function value.
When styles (1) and (4) are used exclusively, it becomes very easy to distinguish
places in the source code where function values are used. Both styles make use
of curly braces (``{}``), allowing those characters to be a visual cue that a
function value may be involved at some level.
SpacingYou will notice that both (1) and (4) insert spaces after the opening brace and before the closing brace. This extra spacing provides a bit of "breathing room" for the contents of the function and makes it easier to distinguish from the surrounding code. There are no cases when this spacing should be omitted.
Multi-Expression Functions
Most function values are less trivial than the examples given above. Many contain
more than one expression. In such cases, it is often more readable to split the
function value across multiple lines. When this happens, only style (1) should
be used. Style (4) becomes extremely difficult to follow when enclosed in large
amounts of code. The declaration itself should loosely follow the declaration
style for methods, with the opening brace on the same line as the assignment or
invocation, while the closing brace is on its own line immediately following the
last line of the function. Parameters should be on the same line as the opening
brace, as should the "arrow" (``=>``)::
val f1 = { (a: Int, b: Int) =>
a + b
}
As noted earlier, function values should leverage type inference whenever
possible.
Control Structures
==================
All control structures should be written with a space following the defining
keyword::
// right!
if (foo) bar else baz
for (i <- 0 to 10) { ... }
while (true) { println("Hello, World!") }
// wrong!
if(foo) bar else baz
for(i <- 0 to 10) { ... }
while(true) { println("Hello, World!") }
Curly-Braces
------------
Curly-braces should be omitted in cases where the control structure represents
a pure-functional operation and all branches of the control structure (relevant
to ``if``/``else``) are single-line expressions. Remember the following guidelines:
* ``if`` - Omit braces if you have an ``else`` clause. Otherwise, surround the
contents with curly braces even if the contents are only a single line.
* ``while`` - Never omit braces (``while`` cannot be used in a pure-functional manner).
* ``for`` - Omit braces if you have a ``yield`` clause. Otherwise, surround the
contents with curly-braces, even if the contents are only a single line.
* ``case`` - Omit braces if the ``case`` expression fits on a single line. Otherwise,
use curly braces for clarity (even though they are not *required* by the parser).
::
val news = if (foo)
goodNews()
else
badNews()
if (foo) {
println("foo was true")
}
news match {
case "good" => println("Good news!")
case "bad" => println("Bad news!")
}
Comprehensions
--------------
Scala has the ability to represent ``for``-comprehensions with more than one
generator (usually, more than one ``<-`` symbol). In such cases, there are two
alternative syntaxes which may be used::
// wrong!
for (x <- board.rows; y <- board.files)
yield (x, y)
// right!
for {
x <- board.rows
y <- board.files
} yield (x, y)
While the latter style is more verbose, it is generally considered easier to read
and more "scalable" (meaning that it does not become obfuscated as the complexity
of the comprehension increases). You should prefer this form for all
``for``-comprehensions of more than one generator. Comprehensions with only a
single generator (e.g. ``for (i <- 0 to 10) yield i``) should use the first
form (parentheses rather than curly braces).
The exceptions to this rule are ``for``-comprehensions which lack a ``yield``
clause. In such cases, the construct is actually a loop rather than a functional
comprehension and it is usually more readable to string the generators together
between parentheses rather than using the syntactically-confusing ``} {``
construct::
// wrong!
for {
x <- board.rows
y <- board.files
} {
printf("(%d, %d)", x, y)
}
// right!
for (x <- board.rows; y <- board.files) {
printf("(%d, %d)", x, y)
}
Trivial Conditionals
--------------------
There are certain situations where it is useful to create a short ``if``/``else``
expression for nested use within a larger expression. In Java, this sort of
case would traditionally be handled by the ternary operator (``?``/``:``), a
syntactic device which Scala lacks. In these situations (and really any time
you have a extremely brief ``if``/``else`` expression) it is permissible to place
the "then" and "else" branches on the same line as the ``if`` and ``else``
keywords::
val res = if (foo) bar else baz
The key here is that readability is not hindered by moving both branches inline
with the ``if``/``else``. Note that this style should never be used with
imperative ``if`` expressions nor should curly braces be employed.
Method Invocation
=================
Generally speaking, method invocation in Scala follows Java conventions. In
other words, there should not be a space between the invocation target and the
dot (``.``), nor a space between the dot and the method name, nor should there
be any space between the method name and the argument-delimiters (parentheses).
Each argument should be separated by a single space *following* the comma (``,``)::
foo(42, bar)
target.foo(42, bar)
target.foo()
Arity-0
-------
Scala allows the omission of parentheses on methods of arity-0 (no arguments)::
reply()
// is the same as
reply
However, this syntax should *only* be used when the method in question has no
side-effects (purely-functional). In other words, it would be acceptable to
omit parentheses when calling ``queue.size``, but not when calling ``println()``.
This convention mirrors the method declaration convention given above.
Religiously observing this convention will *dramatically* improve code readability
and will make it much easier to understand at a glance the most basic operation
of any given method. Resist the urge to omit parentheses simply to save two
characters!
Suffix NotationScala allows methods of arity-0 to be invoked using suffix notation::
names.toList
// is the same as
names toListThis style should be used with great care. In order to avoid ambiguity in Scala's grammar, any method which is invoked via suffix notation must be the last item on a given line. Also, the following line must be completely empty, otherwise Scala's parser will assume that the suffix notation is actually infix and will (incorrectly) attempt to incorporate the contents of the following line into the suffix invocation::
names toList
val answer = 42 // will not compile!This style should only be used on methods with no side-effects, preferably ones which were declared without parentheses (see above). The most common acceptable case for this syntax is as the last operation in a chain of infix method calls::
// acceptable and idiomatic
names map { _.toUpperCase } filter { _.length > 5 } toStreamIn this case, suffix notation must be used with the toStream function,
otherwise a separate value assignment would have been required. However, under
less specialized circumstances, suffix notation should be avoided::
// wrong!
val ls = names toList
// right!
val ls = names.toListThe primary exception to this rule is for domain-specific languages. One very
common use of suffix notation which goes against the above is converting a
String value into a Regexp::
// tolerated
val reg = """d+(.d+)?"""rIn this example, r is actually a method available on type String via an
implicit conversion. It is being called in suffix notation for brevity.
However, the following would have been just as acceptable::
// safer
val reg = """d+(.d+)?""".rScala has a special syntax for invoking methods of arity-1 (one argument)::
names.mkString(",")
// is the same as
names mkString ","This syntax is formally known as "infix notation". It should only be used for
purely-functional methods (methods with no side-effects) - such as mkString -
or methods which take functions as paramethers - such as foreach::
// right!
names foreach { n => println(n) }
names mkString ","
optStr getOrElse "<empty>"
// wrong!
javaList add itemHigher-Order Functions
As noted, methods which take functions as parameters (such as ``map`` or ``foreach``)
should be invoked using infix notation. It is also *possible* to invoke such
methods in the following way::
names.map { _.toUpperCase } // wrong!
This style is *not* the accepted standard! The reason to avoid this style is
for situations where more than one invocation must be chained together::
// wrong!
names.map { _.toUpperCase }.filter { _.length > 5 }
// right!
names map { _.toUpperCase } filter { _.length > 5 }
Both of these work, but the former exploits an extremely unintuitive wrinkle in
Scala's grammar. The sub-expression ``{ _.toUpperCase }.filter`` when taken in
isolation looks for all the world like we are invoking the ``filter`` method on
a function value. However, we are actually invoking ``filter`` on the result of
the ``map`` method, which takes the function value as a parameter. This syntax
is confusing and often discouraged in Ruby, but it is shunned outright in Scala.
Operators
---------
Symbolic methods (operators) should *always* be invoked using infix notation with
spaces separated the target, the operator and the parameter::
// right!
"daniel" + " " + "Spiewak"
// wrong!
"daniel"+" "+"spiewak"
For the most part, this idiom follows Java and Haskell syntactic conventions.
Operators which take more than one parameter (they do exist!) should still be
invoked using infix notation, delimited by spaces::
foo ** (bar, baz)
Such operators are fairly rare, however, and should be avoided during API design.
Files
=====
As a rule, files should contain a *single* logical compilation unit. By "logical"
I mean a class, trait or object. One exception to this guideline is for classes
or traits which have companion objects. Companion objects should be grouped
with their corresponding class or trait in the same file. These files should
be named according to the class, trait or object they contain::
package com.novell.coolness
class Inbox { ... }
// companion object
object Inbox { ... }
These compilation units should be placed within a file named ``Inbox.scala``
within the ``com/novell/coolness`` directory. In short, the Java file naming
and positioning conventions should be preferred, despite the fact that Scala
allows for greater flexibility in this regard.
Multi-Unit Files
----------------
Despite what was said above, there are some important situations which warrent the
inclusion of multiple compilation units within a single file. One common example
is that of a sealed trait and several sub-classes (often emulating the ADT
language feature available in functional languages)::
sealed trait Option[+A]
case class Some[A](a: A) extends Option[A]
case object None extends Option[Nothing]
Because of the nature of sealed superclasses (and traits), all subtypes *must*
be included in the same file. Thus, such a situation definitely qualifies as
an instance where the preference for single-unit files should be ignored.
Another case is when multiple classes logically form a single, cohesive group,
sharing concepts to the point where maintenance is greatly served by containing
them within a single file. These situations are harder to predict than the
aforementioned sealed supertype exception. Generally speaking, if it is *easier*
to perform long-term maintenance and development on several units in a single
file rather than spread across multiple, then such an organizational strategy
should be preferred for these classes. However, keep in mind that when multiple
units are contained within a single file, it is often more difficult to find
specific units when it comes time to make changes.
**All multi-unit files should be given camelCase names with a lower-case first letter.**
This is a very important convention. It differentiates multi- from single-unit
files, greatly easing the process of finding declarations. These filenames may
be based upon a significant type which they contain (e.g. ``option.scala`` for
the example above), or may be descriptive of the logical property shared by all
units within (e.g. ``ast.scala``).