Without further ado...
Feature | Java | Groovy | Scala |
---|---|---|---|
Instance Fields |
[access_modifier] Type name where access_modifier is any of
|
[access_modifier] Type name where access_modifier is any of
class Person { String name } Is equivalent to the following Java class public class Person { private String name; public void setName( String name ) { this.name = name; } public String getName() { return name; } } |
[access_modifier] [definition] name: Type where access_modifier is any of
protected baffles me, as a subclass can't access its parent's protected fields (perhaps I missed something here), same thing with empty access modifier (strong encapsulation?) update: a subclass does have access to its parent protected members, it so happens my tests were doing something unnexpected, more on that later. |
Class Fields (static) |
[access_modifier] static Type name where access_modifier is any of
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[access_modifier] static Type name where access_modifier is any of
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No static modifier (?) but object can be used object Foo { val aConstant = "Foo" private var seed = 42 def foo() = { seed += 1; seed - 1 } } object Bar { import Foo._ def main(args: Array[String]) { var bar = foo() println( aConstant ) // Foo println( bar ) // 42 println( foo() ) // 43 } } |
Global Variables | Not supported. Every field/constant must belong to a class | Supported only in scripts, otherwise follows Java rules | Not supported. Every field/constant must belong to a class |
Method definition |
class Person { [access_modifier] Type name() { // statements } } where access_modifier is any of
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class Person { [access_modifier] Type name() { // statements } } where access_modifier is any of
|
class Person { [access_modifier] def name() [:Type] = { // statements } } where access_modifier is any of
No-arg methods can be written and called without parens class Person { def name = { "Scala" } } ... // this is a method call new Person().name |
Static Method Definition |
class Person { [access_modifier] static Type name() { // statements } } where access_modifier is any of
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class Person { [access_modifier] static Type name() { // statements } } where access_modifier is any of
|
Follows the rules of Class Fields and Method Definition |
Returning from a method |
return expression; return; |
Same as Java. But can leave the return statement - in that case the last expression evaluated is returned. | Same as Java. But can leave the return statement - in that case the last expression evaluated is returned. |
Null | null | null - Guillaume Laforge notes that "Null Object Pattern" is supported in Groovy. See also: NullObject. So, you can call null.toString() for example. |
null Which is actually of type Null, the only one of its kind. Can't call methods on it. |
Arrays |
int[] a = new int[10]; a[0] = 3; |
int[] a = new int[10] a[0] = 3 |
var a:Array[Int] = new Array(10) a(0) = 3 also var a = new Array[Int](10) a(0) = 3 |
Array Literals |
int[] a = {0,1,2}; a[0] = 3; |
int[] a = [0,1,2] a[0] = 3 |
val nums = Array(0,1,2) |
Lists | Supported by the Collections framefork (JSL), not really part of the language |
List list = [0,1,2] list[0] = 'Foo' list[10] = 11 Lists can be heterogeneous Lists grow as needed |
val nums = List(1,2,3,4) Lists are immutable, values can't be reassigned List are homogeneous |
Hash Literals | Not supported. (See java.util.Map) |
def hash = [key:'value', 'id': 1] hash.key = 'value2' // bean like access hash[key] = 'value3' // hash like access |
val nums = Map("one" -> 1, "two" -> 2, "three" -> 3) nums("one") // 1 nums("two") // 2 Daniel explains: Scala does have a syntax for map literals (sort of), but it's not really built into the language. It's actually an implicit conversion on Any (common superclass of all objects incl. primitives) and a symbolic method. |