Everything You Need to Know About Scala Developer Skills
Scala is a general-purpose programming language that combines the object-oriented and functional approaches. The syntax of Scala is similar both to Java and C#. Scala programs are similar to Java programs and can easily interact with Java code.
The Scala language is quite tricky. It may be both simple and complex, depending on various factors. Therefore, a skillset of a Scala developer can be quite diverse and hang upon the employer’s requirements, because they can be looking for junior, middle, or senior Scala programmers.
What Is Typically Required from a Scala Programmer?
- Experience both in functional and object-oriented programming as well as understanding how Scala combines these two approaches.
- Knowledge of Java-like statements and expressions: standard operators, conditionals, method calls, loops.
- Understanding of how Java and Scala can interact with each other.
- Understanding of differences between statically-typed and dynamically-typed languages.
- Understanding of differences between Function and Method in Scala.
- Knowledge of Infix notation and which methods are called with it.
- Knowledge of closures and how to use them in Scala.
- Knowledge of Scala inner classes and their difference from Java inner classes.
- Ability to use multiple generators ‘for’ expressions.
- Understanding of pattern matching.
- Ability to define and use traits.
- Understanding of internal architecture of Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
- Understanding of type inference in Scala.
- Knowledge of recursion, specifically, head recursion and tail recursion.
- Ability to create XML literals.
- Ability to define and use primary and auxiliary constructors in Scala.
- Understanding of similarities and differences between Scala’s Int and Java’s java.lang.Integer.
- Proficiency with folds, i.e. methods such as foldLeft, foldRight.
- Good understanding of lazy data structures.
- Familiarity with REPL, the command-line interface of Scala.
- Proficiency with actors, i.e. concurrent processes that communicate by exchanging messages.
- Experience with parser combinators.
- Experience with building web applications or big data frameworks, such as Play!, Spray, or Akka-HTTP.
This is what is usually required from a Scala programmer. We hope that this skillset will give you an understanding of knowledge and skills that are required from Scala developers and wish you good luck at the interview.