Scala 2.9.0.1 final version released: programming language with parallel features for Java VM

UPDATE: Scala 2.9.0.1 has replaced 2.9.0 as it hot-fixed several important bugs.

Scala 2.9.0 final:

We are happy to announce the release of the new stable release of the Scala distribution. The new Scala 2.9.0 final is available from our Download Page. The Scala 2.9.0 codebase includes several additions, notably the new Parallel Collections, but it also introduces improvements on many existing features, and contains many bug fixes.

Scala 2.9.0 binaries are available for the following libraries:

• Dispatch 0.7.8 and 0.8.1
• Unfiltered 0.3.2
• Spde 0.3.1

Of course.

Here are some recommended learning resources on Scala programming language:

• Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide, 2nd Edition
• Programming Scala: Scalability = Functional Programming + Objects (Animal Guide)
• Programming Scala: Tackle Multi-Core Complexity on the Java Virtual Machine (Pragmatic Programmers)
• Beginning Scala (Expert's Voice in Open Source)

Also, the Typesafe Stack is also out, which brings together Scala, Akka, and a few other things to get one up-and-running quickly. Much fun.

On the collection side of things, one of the first questions I saw was: do parallel collections share a common interface with standard collections. The answer is yes, they do, but not one that existed in 2.8.1.

You see, a trouble with parallel collections is that, now that they are available, people will probably be passing them around. If they could be passed to old code -- as it was briefly contemplated -- that old code could crash in mysterious ways. In fact, it happens with REPL itself.

For that reason, ALL of your code comes with a guarantee that it will only accept sequential collections. In other words, Iterable, Seq, Set, etc, they all now share a guarantee to be sequential, which means you cannot pass a parallel sequence to a method expecting Seq.

The parallel collections start with Par: ParIterable, ParSeq, ParSet and ParMap. No ParTraversable for now. These are guaranteed to be parallel. They can be found inside scala.collection.parallel, scala.collection.parallel.immutable, etc.

You can also get a parallel collection just by calling the ".par" method on it, and, similarly, the ".seq" method will return a sequential collection.

Now, if you want your code to not care whether it receives a parallel or sequential collection, you should prefix it with Gen: GenTraversable, GenIterable, GenSeq, etc. These can be either parallel or sequential.

And, now, something fun to try out:

def p[T](coll: collection.GenIterable[T]) = coll foreach println; p(1 to 20); p((1 to 20).par)

 

I highly recommend the following books for more information about Scala programming language:

• Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide, 2nd Edition
• Programming Scala: Scalability = Functional Programming + Objects (Animal Guide)
• Programming Scala: Tackle Multi-Core Complexity on the Java Virtual Machine (Pragmatic Programmers)
• Beginning Scala (Expert's Voice in Open Source)

 

 

Copied mostly verbatim from this announcement and that announcement.