Intro to Scala Fundamentals

This is a two day course. You are expected to know how to program in at least one programming language (Java, Ruby, JavaScript, etc.). The course teaches the fundamentals of using Scala as a functional programming language.

This course is meant to be run in person. There are comments in the exercises to try and point you in the right direction so you should be able to do this in your spare time if you desire. Unit tests are included to verify your solutions for each exercise.

Use ./auto/sbt test to run the tests. The first time you run the tests, they will all fail. This is a good thing! As you complete each exercise correctly, the tests will pass.

We welcome pull requests and feedback!

Schedule

Day 1

Time	Topic/Exercise
09.00	Start
09.15	Intro to FP/Scala (presentation)
10.00	IntroExercises
10.30	Intro to ADTs (presentation)
10.50	Morning tea
11.00	TypesExercises
12.00	Lunch (not provided)
13.15	ListExercises
15.00	Afternoon tea
15.30	NullExercises
16.00	OptionExercises pt. 1 (Safe constructors)
17.00	End

Day 2

Time	Topic/Exercise
09.15	Intro to Error Handling (presentation)
10.00	OptionExercises pt. 2
10.50	Morning tea
11.00	OptionExercises pt. 3
11.45	ExceptionExercises
12.15	Lunch (not provided)
13.15	Exceptions2EitherExercises
14.30	Afternoon tea
15.00	TryExercises
15.30	LogParser
16.45	Wrap up
17.00	End

Pre-requisites

At a minimum, you need:

This repository
Java 8 installed (even if you have a newer version)
Docker
Text editor (IntelliJ is recommended)

1. Fork or clone this repository

$ git clone https://github.com/wjlow/intro-to-scala.git
$ cd intro-to-scala/

2. Install Java 8 (even if you already have Java 9 or 10 pre-installed)

Test if you have Java 8 already with java -version.

macOS (using Homebrew)

$ brew tap caskroom/versions
$ brew cask install java8

3. Install Docker

macOS

Use Docker for Mac

4. Run SBT through Docker

To run the sbt shell using Docker:

$ ./auto/sbt

Tip: Launching SBT might take some time, so we recommend using SBT's interactive shell to run commands, instead of lauching SBT for each command.

5. Compile program to resolve dependencies before the course

6. IDE setup

Compilation

Launch the SBT shell.

To only compile production code use:

sbt> compile

To compile production and test code use:

sbt> test:compile

How to run tests

To run all tests

To run all tests use:

sbt> test

The first time you run all the tests you will get a lot of errors! These tests will be fixed by you during the duration of the course.

Running a single test file

In the meantime, run only a single test case at a time to keep things manageable.

To run a single test, use:

sbt> ~testOnly package.path.of.test.TestName

For example, to run only the fundamentals.level01.IntroExercisesTest test case, use:

sbt> ~testOnly fundamentals.level01.IntroExercisesTest

To run by test case name only, use:

sbt> ~testOnly *TestName

For example, to run the fundamentals.level01.IntroExercisesTest test case, use:

sbt> ~testOnly *IntroExercisesTest

The ~ watches for changes to your files and runs the command automatically. It's nice to use it to get really fast feedback as you are working on the exercises!

To stop watching changes through ~, press Enter to return to the SBT shell prompt.

Reducing StackTraces Shown by Failed Tests

The first time you run a test case you will be greeted by a long list of StackTraces:

If you want to see all tests that pass and only the first test that fails use the LittleRed reporter with:

testOnly *TestName -- -C delight.LittleRed

If you want to see all passing and failing tests with minimal stacktraces use the Nature reporter with:

testOnly *TestName -- -C delight.Nature

For more information see Delight

Jumping into a Scala REPL

To launch into a Scala REPL with all production code use:

sbt> console

Once in the console, you can import your production code as such:

import package.objectname._

For example, to use functions defined in fundamentals.level01.IntroExercises:

scala> import fundamentals.level01.IntroExercises._
scala> add(1, 2)
res0: Int = 3

To launch into a Scala REPL with all production and test code use:

sbt> test:console

Type :q to exit from the REPL and return to SBT.

Exiting SBT

To exit the SBT shell use:

sbt> exit

IDE setup

IntelliJ IDEA (recommended)

Download IntelliJ (free Community edition is fine)
Install and open IntelliJ
If running IntelliJ for the very first time, it might ask you what plugin you want to install. Select Scala, otherwise install manually: Configure -> Plugins -> Browse Repositories -> Scala
Restart IntelliJ to activate the plugin
Open IntelliJ and open this project: Open -> Select directory where project is in
IntelliJ will detect this as an SBT project. Select Import SBT Project when prompted
In the pop-up, choose SDK -> JDK -> Java 1.8 (this step might be confusing, feel free to reach out)
Wait for IntelliJ to refresh the project and download dependencies (this might take a while)
Compile project with Cmd + F9. If you get no errors, IntelliJ setup is all done!

Tips:

You can run individual tests by right-clicking and then selecting Run ...ExercisesTest (or just use SBT)
Use Cmd + P inside the argument of a function to see what type the argument needs to be.
Use Ctrl + Shift + P to find out the type of a highlighted expression.

Text Editor (Vim/Sublime/Atom/Emacs)

Open the current directory in an editor of your choice.
Open the SBT shell in a terminal window.
Compiling - See SBT instructions on how to compile code.
Running Tests - See SBT instructions on how to run tests.
Looking up Scala API - You can also search through the Scala APIs to find any necessary methods or use a documentation browser like Dash.
To explore the Scala API or any of the exercises use the Scala REPL - See SBT instructions on how to jump into the REPL.

burnzoire/intro-to-scala