Hi,
Here is my current practice of Scala at work:
1. I used it to do some one-off migration scripts to change irrelevant data
2. I used it to build a small "console" to our java system, mostly using the
loan pattern and providing utility functions to navigate the system
3. I used it to implement maven plugins to enhance our build/delivery process. I originally started doing this with Groovy and that really felt too painful and error prone.
4. I regularly show my coworkers how some java code could be transformed to better Scala code. For example, yesterday we had this kind of construct:
if (Log.isDebugEnabled())
log.debug("Category", "a message" + with + " a lot " + of + " parameters")
This was, in our framework, essentially justified as a way to get better performances and avoid to build the second argument to the debug function. So I showed my colleagues how lazy evaluation would help there.
So far, I haven't attempted to promote the use of Scala for more that this because the all the production code we deliver to our very conservative customers has to be Java.
One word though about the cons of Scala:
>Con: Scala is a more powerful and complex language than Java,
>and thus will require that your developers are more intelligent,
>making it harder to find more developers.
I have the impression that this may not be so true. You can adopt a very gentle learning curve from Java to Scala where you don't have to change your programming style a lot. So good Java developers don't have to be specifically smarter and should feel at home (if not better!) using Scala.
Eric.
