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-rw-r--r--scala.html.markdown588
1 files changed, 395 insertions, 193 deletions
diff --git a/scala.html.markdown b/scala.html.markdown
index 6b398b4b..e6638121 100644
--- a/scala.html.markdown
+++ b/scala.html.markdown
@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@ filename: learnscala.scala
contributors:
- ["George Petrov", "http://github.com/petrovg"]
- ["Dominic Bou-Samra", "http://dbousamra.github.com"]
+ - ["Geoff Liu", "http://geoffliu.me"]
filename: learn.scala
---
Scala - the scalable language
-```cpp
+```scala
/*
Set yourself up:
@@ -20,34 +21,50 @@ Scala - the scalable language
scala>
- This is the so called REPL. You can run commands in the REPL. Let's do just
- that:
+ This is the so called REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop). You may type any valid
+ Scala expression into it, and the result will be printed. We will explain what
+ Scala files look like further into this tutorial, but for now, let's start
+ with some basics.
*/
-println(10) // prints the integer 10
-println("Boo!") // printlns the string Boo!
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 1. Basics
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// Single line comments start with two forward slashes
-// Some basics
+/*
+ Multi line comments, as you can already see from above, look like this.
+*/
// Printing, and forcing a new line on the next print
println("Hello world!")
+println(10)
+
// Printing, without forcing a new line on next print
print("Hello world")
-// Declaring values is done using either var or val
-// val declarations are immutable, whereas var's are mutable. Immutability is
+// Declaring values is done using either var or val.
+// val declarations are immutable, whereas var's are mutable. Immutability is
// a good thing.
val x = 10 // x is now 10
x = 20 // error: reassignment to val
-var x = 10
-x = 20 // x is now 20
+var y = 10
+y = 20 // y is now 20
-// Single line comments start with two forward slashes
-/*
-Multi line comments look like this.
+/*
+ Scala is a statically typed language, yet note that in the above declarations,
+ we did not specify a type. This is due to a language feature called type
+ inference. In most cases, Scala compiler can guess what the type of a variable
+ is, so you don't have to type it every time. We can explicitly declare the
+ type of a variable like so:
*/
+val z: Int = 10
+val a: Double = 1.0
+
+// Notice automatic conversion from Int to Double, result is 10.0, not 10
+val b: Double = 10
// Boolean values
true
@@ -64,9 +81,11 @@ true == false // false
2 - 1 // 1
5 * 3 // 15
6 / 2 // 3
+6 / 4 // 1
+6.0 / 4 // 1.5
-// Evaluating a command in the REPL gives you the type and value of the result
+// Evaluating an expression in the REPL gives you the type and value of the result
1 + 7
@@ -78,55 +97,179 @@ true == false // false
This means the result of evaluating 1 + 7 is an object of type Int with a
value of 8
- 1+7 will give you the same result
+ Note that "res29" is a sequentially generated variable name to store the
+ results of the expressions you typed, your output may differ.
*/
+"Scala strings are surrounded by double quotes"
+'a' // A Scala Char
+// 'Single quote strings don't exist' <= This causes an error
-// Everything is an object, including a function. Type these in the REPL:
+// Strings have the usual Java methods defined on them
+"hello world".length
+"hello world".substring(2, 6)
+"hello world".replace("C", "3")
-7 // results in res30: Int = 7 (res30 is just a generated var name for the result)
+// They also have some extra Scala methods. See also: scala.collection.immutable.StringOps
+"hello world".take(5)
+"hello world".drop(5)
-// The next line gives you a function that takes an Int and returns it squared
-(x:Int) => x * x
+// String interpolation: notice the prefix "s"
+val n = 45
+s"We have $n apples" // => "We have 45 apples"
-// You can assign this function to an identifier, like this:
-val sq = (x:Int) => x * x
+// Expressions inside interpolated strings are also possible
+val a = Array(11, 9, 6)
+s"My second daughter is ${a(0) - a(2)} years old." // => "My second daughter is 5 years old."
+s"We have double the amount of ${n / 2.0} in apples." // => "We have double the amount of 22.5 in apples."
+s"Power of 2: ${math.pow(2, 2)}" // => "Power of 2: 4"
-/* The above says this
-
- sq: Int => Int = <function1>
+// Formatting with interpolated strings with the prefix "f"
+f"Power of 5: ${math.pow(5, 2)}%1.0f" // "Power of 5: 25"
+f"Square root of 122: ${math.sqrt(122)}%1.4f" // "Square root of 122: 11.0454"
- Which means that this time we gave an explicit name to the value - sq is a
- function that take an Int and returns Int.
+// Raw strings, ignoring special characters.
+raw"New line feed: \n. Carriage return: \r." // => "New line feed: \n. Carriage return: \r."
- sq can be executed as follows:
-*/
+// Some characters need to be "escaped", e.g. a double quote inside a string:
+"They stood outside the \"Rose and Crown\"" // => "They stood outside the "Rose and Crown""
-sq(10) // Gives you this: res33: Int = 100.
+// Triple double-quotes let strings span multiple rows and contain quotes
+val html = """<form id="daform">
+ <p>Press belo', Joe</p>
+ <input type="submit">
+ </form>"""
-// The colon explicitly defines the type of a value, in this case a function
-// taking an Int and returning an Int.
-val add10: Int => Int = _ + 10
-// Scala allows methods and functions to return, or take as parameters, other
-// functions or methods.
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 2. Functions
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+// Functions are defined like so:
+//
+// def functionName(args...): ReturnType = { body... }
+//
+// If you come from more traditional languages, notice the omission of the
+// return keyword. In Scala, the last expression in the function block is the
+// return value.
+def sumOfSquares(x: Int, y: Int): Int = {
+ val x2 = x * x
+ val y2 = y * y
+ x2 + y2
+}
-List(1, 2, 3) map add10 // List(11, 12, 13) - add10 is applied to each element
+// The { } can be omitted if the function body is a single expression:
+def sumOfSquaresShort(x: Int, y: Int): Int = x * x + y * y
-// Anonymous functions can be used instead of named functions:
-List(1, 2, 3) map (x => x + 10)
+// Syntax for calling functions is familiar:
+sumOfSquares(3, 4) // => 25
-// And the underscore symbol, can be used if there is just one argument to the
-// anonymous function. It gets bound as the variable
-List(1, 2, 3) map (_ + 10)
+// In most cases (with recursive functions the most notable exception), function
+// return type can be omitted, and the same type inference we saw with variables
+// will work with function return values:
+def sq(x: Int) = x * x // Compiler can guess return type is Int
-// If the anonymous block AND the function you are applying both take one
-// argument, you can even omit the underscore
-List("Dom", "Bob", "Natalia") foreach println
+// Functions can have default parameters:
+def addWithDefault(x: Int, y: Int = 5) = x + y
+addWithDefault(1, 2) // => 3
+addWithDefault(1) // => 6
+// Anonymous functions look like this:
+(x:Int) => x * x
-// Data structures
+// Unlike defs, even the input type of anonymous functions can be omitted if the
+// context makes it clear. Notice the type "Int => Int" which means a function
+// that takes Int and returns Int.
+val sq: Int => Int = x => x * x
+
+// Anonymous functions can be called as usual:
+sq(10) // => 100
+
+// If each argument in your anonymous function is
+// used only once, Scala gives you an even shorter way to define them. These
+// anonymous functions turn out to be extremely common, as will be obvious in
+// the data structure section.
+val addOne: Int => Int = _ + 1
+val weirdSum: (Int, Int) => Int = (_ * 2 + _ * 3)
+
+addOne(5) // => 6
+weirdSum(2, 4) // => 16
+
+
+// The return keyword exists in Scala, but it only returns from the inner-most
+// def that surrounds it.
+// WARNING: Using return in Scala is error-prone and should be avoided.
+// It has no effect on anonymous functions. For example:
+def foo(x: Int): Int = {
+ val anonFunc: Int => Int = { z =>
+ if (z > 5)
+ return z // This line makes z the return value of foo!
+ else
+ z + 2 // This line is the return value of anonFunc
+ }
+ anonFunc(x) // This line is the return value of foo
+}
+
+
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 3. Flow Control
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+1 to 5
+val r = 1 to 5
+r.foreach( println )
+
+r foreach println
+// NB: Scala is quite lenient when it comes to dots and brackets - study the
+// rules separately. This helps write DSLs and APIs that read like English
+
+(5 to 1 by -1) foreach ( println )
+
+// A while loops
+var i = 0
+while (i < 10) { println("i " + i); i+=1 }
+
+while (i < 10) { println("i " + i); i+=1 } // Yes, again. What happened? Why?
+
+i // Show the value of i. Note that while is a loop in the classical sense -
+ // it executes sequentially while changing the loop variable. while is very
+ // fast, faster that Java loops, but using the combinators and
+ // comprehensions above is easier to understand and parallelize
+
+// A do while loop
+do {
+ println("x is still less than 10");
+ x += 1
+} while (x < 10)
+
+// Tail recursion is an idiomatic way of doing recurring things in Scala.
+// Recursive functions need an explicit return type, the compiler can't infer it.
+// Here it's Unit.
+def showNumbersInRange(a:Int, b:Int):Unit = {
+ print(a)
+ if (a < b)
+ showNumbersInRange(a + 1, b)
+}
+showNumbersInRange(1,14)
+
+
+// Conditionals
+
+val x = 10
+
+if (x == 1) println("yeah")
+if (x == 10) println("yeah")
+if (x == 11) println("yeah")
+if (x == 11) println ("yeah") else println("nay")
+
+println(if (x == 10) "yeah" else "nope")
+val text = if (x == 10) "yeah" else "nope"
+
+
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 4. Data Structures
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
val a = Array(1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13)
a(0)
@@ -145,8 +288,8 @@ val s = Set(1, 3, 7)
s(0)
s(1)
-/* Look up the documentation of map here -
- * http://www.scala-lang.org/api/current/index.html#scala.collection.immutable.Map
+/* Look up the documentation of map here -
+ * http://www.scala-lang.org/api/current/index.html#scala.collection.immutable.Map
* and make sure you can read it
*/
@@ -175,212 +318,271 @@ d._1
d._2
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 5. Object Oriented Programming
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// Combinators
-
-s.map(sq)
-
-val sSquared = s. map(sq)
-
-sSquared.filter(_ < 10)
-
-sSquared.reduce (_+_)
-
-// The filter function takes a predicate (a function from A -> Boolean) and
-// selects all elements which satisfy the predicate
-List(1, 2, 3) filter (_ > 2) // List(3)
-List(
- Person(name = "Dom", age = 23),
- Person(name = "Bob", age = 30)
-).filter(_.age > 25) // List(Person("Bob", 30))
-
-
-// Scala a foreach method defined on certain collections that takes a type
-// returning Unit (a void method)
-aListOfNumbers foreach (x => println(x))
-aListOfNumbers foreach println
+/*
+ Aside: Everything we've done so far in this tutorial has been simple
+ expressions (values, functions, etc). These expressions are fine to type into
+ the command-line interpreter for quick tests, but they cannot exist by
+ themselves in a Scala file. For example, you cannot have just "val x = 5" in
+ a Scala file. Instead, the only top-level constructs allowed in Scala are:
+
+ - objects
+ - classes
+ - case classes
+ - traits
+
+ And now we will explain what these are.
+*/
+// classes are similar to classes in other languages. Constructor arguments are
+// declared after the class name, and initialization is done in the class body.
+class Dog(br: String) {
+ // Constructor code here
+ var breed: String = br
+ // Define a method called bark, returning a String
+ def bark = "Woof, woof!"
+ // Values and methods are assumed public. "protected" and "private" keywords
+ // are also available.
+ private def sleep(hours: Int) =
+ println(s"I'm sleeping for $hours hours")
-// For comprehensions
+ // Abstract methods are simply methods with no body. If we uncomment the next
+ // line, class Dog would need to be declared abstract
+ // abstract class Dog(...) { ... }
+ // def chaseAfter(what: String): String
+}
-for { n <- s } yield sq(n)
+val mydog = new Dog("greyhound")
+println(mydog.breed) // => "greyhound"
+println(mydog.bark) // => "Woof, woof!"
-val nSquared2 = for { n <- s } yield sq(n)
-for { n <- nSquared2 if n < 10 } yield n
+// The "object" keyword creates a type AND a singleton instance of it. It is
+// common for Scala classes to have a "companion object", where the per-instance
+// behavior is captured in the classes themselves, but behavior related to all
+// instance of that class go in objects. The difference is similar to class
+// methods vs static methods in other languages. Note that objects and classes
+// can have the same name.
+object Dog {
+ def allKnownBreeds = List("pitbull", "shepherd", "retriever")
+ def createDog(breed: String) = new Dog(breed)
+}
-for { n <- s; nSquared = n * n if nSquared < 10} yield nSquared
-/* NB Those were not for loops. The semantics of a for loop is 'repeat', whereas
- a for-comprehension defines a relationship between two sets of data. */
+// Case classes are classes that have extra functionality built in. A common
+// question for Scala beginners is when to use classes and when to use case
+// classes. The line is quite fuzzy, but in general, classes tend to focus on
+// encapsulation, polymorphism, and behavior. The values in these classes tend
+// to be private, and only methods are exposed. The primary purpose of case
+// classes is to hold immutable data. They often have few methods, and the
+// methods rarely have side-effects.
+case class Person(name: String, phoneNumber: String)
+// Create a new instance. Note cases classes don't need "new"
+val george = Person("George", "1234")
+val kate = Person("Kate", "4567")
+// With case classes, you get a few perks for free, like getters:
+george.phoneNumber // => "1234"
-// Loops and iteration
+// Per field equality (no need to override .equals)
+Person("George", "1234") == Person("Kate", "1236") // => false
-1 to 5
-val r = 1 to 5
-r.foreach( println )
+// Easy way to copy
+// otherGeorge == Person("george", "9876")
+val otherGeorge = george.copy(phoneNumber = "9876")
-r foreach println
-// NB: Scala is quite lenient when it comes to dots and brackets - study the
-// rules separately. This helps write DSLs and APIs that read like English
+// And many others. Case classes also get pattern matching for free, see below.
-(5 to 1 by -1) foreach ( println )
-// A while loops
-var i = 0
-while (i < 10) { println("i " + i); i+=1 }
+// Traits coming soon!
-while (i < 10) { println("i " + i); i+=1 } // Yes, again. What happened? Why?
-i // Show the value of i. Note that while is a loop in the classical sense -
- // it executes sequentially while changing the loop variable. while is very
- // fast, faster that Java // loops, but using the combinators and
- // comprehensions above is easier to understand and parallelize
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 6. Pattern Matching
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// A do while loop
-do {
- println("x is still less then 10");
- x += 1
-} while (x < 10)
+// Pattern matching is a powerful and commonly used feature in Scala. Here's how
+// you pattern match a case class. NB: Unlike other languages, Scala cases do
+// not need breaks, fall-through does not happen.
-// Tail recursion is an idiomatic way of doing recurring things in Scala.
-// Recursive functions need an explicit return type, the compiler can't infer it.
-// Here it's Unit.
-def showNumbersInRange(a:Int, b:Int):Unit = {
- print(a)
- if (a < b)
- showNumbersInRange(a + 1, b)
+def matchPerson(person: Person): String = person match {
+ // Then you specify the patterns:
+ case Person("George", number) => "We found George! His number is " + number
+ case Person("Kate", number) => "We found Kate! Her number is " + number
+ case Person(name, number) => "We matched someone : " + name + ", phone : " + number
}
+val email = "(.*)@(.*)".r // Define a regex for the next example.
+// Pattern matching might look familiar to the switch statements in the C family
+// of languages, but this is much more powerful. In Scala, you can match much
+// more:
+def matchEverything(obj: Any): String = obj match {
+ // You can match values:
+ case "Hello world" => "Got the string Hello world"
-// Conditionals
+ // You can match by type:
+ case x: Double => "Got a Double: " + x
-val x = 10
+ // You can specify conditions:
+ case x: Int if x > 10000 => "Got a pretty big number!"
-if (x == 1) println("yeah")
-if (x == 10) println("yeah")
-if (x == 11) println("yeah")
-if (x == 11) println ("yeah") else println("nay")
-
-println(if (x == 10) "yeah" else "nope")
-val text = if (x == 10) "yeah" else "nope"
-
-var i = 0
-while (i < 10) { println("i " + i); i+=1 }
+ // You can match case classes as before:
+ case Person(name, number) => s"Got contact info for $name!"
+ // You can match regular expressions:
+ case email(name, domain) => s"Got email address $name@$domain"
+ // You can match tuples:
+ case (a: Int, b: Double, c: String) => s"Got a tuple: $a, $b, $c"
-// Object oriented features
+ // You can match data structures:
+ case List(1, b, c) => s"Got a list with three elements and starts with 1: 1, $b, $c"
-// Classname is Dog
-class Dog {
- //A method called bark, returning a String
- def bark: String = {
- // the body of the method
- "Woof, woof!"
- }
+ // You can nest patterns:
+ case List(List((1, 2,"YAY"))) => "Got a list of list of tuple"
}
-// Classes can contain nearly any other construct, including other classes,
-// functions, methods, objects, case classes, traits etc.
-
-
-
-// Case classes
-
-case class Person(name:String, phoneNumber:String)
-
-Person("George", "1234") == Person("Kate", "1236")
-
-
-
-// Pattern matching
-
-val me = Person("George", "1234")
+// In fact, you can pattern match any object with an "unapply" method. This
+// feature is so powerful that Scala lets you define whole functions as
+// patterns:
+val patternFunc: Person => String = {
+ case Person("George", number) => s"George's number: $number"
+ case Person(name, number) => s"Random person's number: $number"
+}
-me match { case Person(name, number) => {
- "We matched someone : " + name + ", phone : " + number }}
-me match { case Person(name, number) => "Match : " + name; case _ => "Hm..." }
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 7. Functional Programming
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
-me match { case Person("George", number) => "Match"; case _ => "Hm..." }
+// Scala allows methods and functions to return, or take as parameters, other
+// functions or methods.
-me match { case Person("Kate", number) => "Match"; case _ => "Hm..." }
+val add10: Int => Int = _ + 10 // A function taking an Int and returning an Int
+List(1, 2, 3) map add10 // List(11, 12, 13) - add10 is applied to each element
-me match { case Person("Kate", _) => "Girl"; case Person("George", _) => "Boy" }
+// Anonymous functions can be used instead of named functions:
+List(1, 2, 3) map (x => x + 10)
-val kate = Person("Kate", "1234")
+// And the underscore symbol, can be used if there is just one argument to the
+// anonymous function. It gets bound as the variable
+List(1, 2, 3) map (_ + 10)
-kate match { case Person("Kate", _) => "Girl"; case Person("George", _) => "Boy" }
+// If the anonymous block AND the function you are applying both take one
+// argument, you can even omit the underscore
+List("Dom", "Bob", "Natalia") foreach println
+// Combinators
-// Regular expressions
-val email = "(.*)@(.*)".r // Invoking r on String makes it a Regex
-val serialKey = """(\d{5})-(\d{5})-(\d{5})-(\d{5})""".r // Using verbatim (multiline) syntax
+s.map(sq)
-val matcher = (value: String) => {
- println(value match {
- case email(name, domain) => s"It was an email: $name"
- case serialKey(p1, p2, p3, p4) => s"Serial key: $p1, $p2, $p3, $p4"
- case _ => s"No match on '$value'" // default if no match found
- })
-}
+val sSquared = s. map(sq)
-matcher("mrbean@pyahoo.com") // => "It was an email: mrbean"
-matcher("nope..") // => "No match on 'nope..'"
-matcher("52917") // => "No match on '52917'"
-matcher("52752-16432-22178-47917") // => "Serial key: 52752, 16432, 22178, 47917"
+sSquared.filter(_ < 10)
+sSquared.reduce (_+_)
-// Strings
+// The filter function takes a predicate (a function from A -> Boolean) and
+// selects all elements which satisfy the predicate
+List(1, 2, 3) filter (_ > 2) // List(3)
+case class Person(name:String, age:Int)
+List(
+ Person(name = "Dom", age = 23),
+ Person(name = "Bob", age = 30)
+).filter(_.age > 25) // List(Person("Bob", 30))
-"Scala strings are surrounded by double quotes" //
-'a' // A Scala Char
-'Single quote strings don't exist' // Error
-"Strings have the usual Java methods defined on them".length
-"They also have some extra Scala methods.".reverse
-// Seealso: scala.collection.immutable.StringOps
+// Scala a foreach method defined on certain collections that takes a type
+// returning Unit (a void method)
+val aListOfNumbers = List(1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 20, 100)
+aListOfNumbers foreach (x => println(x))
+aListOfNumbers foreach println
-println("ABCDEF".length)
-println("ABCDEF".substring(2, 6))
-println("ABCDEF".replace("C", "3"))
+// For comprehensions
-// String interpolation
-val n = 45
-println(s"We have $n apples") // => "We have 45 apples"
+for { n <- s } yield sq(n)
-// Expressions inside interpolated strings are also possible
-val a = Array(11, 9, 6)
-println(s"My second daughter is ${a(0) - a(2)} years old.") // => "My second daughter is 5 years old."
-println(s"We have double the amount of ${n / 2.0} in apples.") // => "We have double the amount of 22.5 in apples."
-println(s"Power of 2: ${math.pow(2, 2)}") // => "Power of 2: 4"
+val nSquared2 = for { n <- s } yield sq(n)
-// Formatting with interpolated strings (note the prefixed f)
-println(f"Power of 5: ${math.pow(5, 2)}%1.0f") // "Power of 5: 25"
-println(f"Square root of 122: ${math.sqrt(122)}%1.4f") // "Square root of 122"
+for { n <- nSquared2 if n < 10 } yield n
-// Ignoring special characters.
-println(raw"New line feed: \n. Carriage return: \r.") // => "New line feed: \n. Carriage return: \r."
+for { n <- s; nSquared = n * n if nSquared < 10} yield nSquared
-// Some characters need to be 'escaped', e.g. a double quote inside a string:
-val a = "They stood outside the \"Rose and Crown\"" // => "They stood outside the "Rose and Crown""
+/* NB Those were not for loops. The semantics of a for loop is 'repeat', whereas
+ a for-comprehension defines a relationship between two sets of data. */
-// Triple double-quotes let strings span multiple rows and contain quotes
-val html = """<form id="daform">
- <p>Press belo', Joe</p>
- | <input type="submit">
- </form>"""
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 8. Implicits
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/* WARNING WARNING: Implicits are a set of powerful features of Scala, and
+ * therefore it is easy to abuse them. Beginners to Scala should resist the
+ * temptation to use them until they understand not only how they work, but also
+ * best practices around them. We only include this section in the tutorial
+ * because they are so commonplace in Scala libraries that it is impossible to
+ * do anything meaningful without using a library that has implicits. This is
+ * meant for you to understand and work with implicts, not declare your own.
+ */
-// Application structure and organization
+// Any value (vals, functions, objects, etc) can be declared to be implicit by
+// using the, you guessed it, "implicit" keyword. Note we are using the Dog
+// class from section 5 in these examples.
+implicit val myImplicitInt = 100
+implicit def myImplicitFunction(breed: String) = new Dog("Golden " + breed)
+
+// By itself, implicit keyword doesn't change the behavior of the value, so
+// above values can be used as usual.
+myImplicitInt + 2 // => 102
+myImplicitFunction("Pitbull").breed // => "Golden Pitbull"
+
+// The difference is that these values are now eligible to be used when another
+// piece of code "needs" an implicit value. One such situation is implicit
+// function arguments:
+def sendGreetings(toWhom: String)(implicit howMany: Int) =
+ s"Hello $toWhom, $howMany blessings to you and yours!"
+
+// If we supply a value for "howMany", the function behaves as usual
+sendGreetings("John")(1000) // => "Hello John, 1000 blessings to you and yours!"
+
+// But if we omit the implicit parameter, an implicit value of the same type is
+// used, in this case, "myImplicitInt":
+sendGreetings("Jane") // => "Hello Jane, 100 blessings to you and yours!"
+
+// Implicit function parameters enable us to simulate type classes in other
+// functional languages. It is so often used that it gets its own shorthand. The
+// following two lines mean the same thing:
+def foo[T](implicit c: C[T]) = ...
+def foo[T : C] = ...
+
+
+// Another situation in which the compiler looks for an implicit is if you have
+// obj.method(...)
+// but "obj" doesn't have "method" as a method. In this case, if there is an
+// implicit conversion of type A => B, where A is the type of obj, and B has a
+// method called "method", that conversion is applied. So having
+// myImplicitFunction above in scope, we can say:
+"Retriever".breed // => "Golden Retriever"
+"Sheperd".bark // => "Woof, woof!"
+
+// Here the String is first converted to Dog using our function above, and then
+// the appropriate method is called. This is an extremely powerful feature, but
+// again, it is not to be used lightly. In fact, when you defined the implicit
+// function above, your compiler should have given you a warning, that you
+// shouldn't do this unless you really know what you're doing.
+
+
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// 9. Misc
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Importing things
import scala.collection.immutable.List