Why learn Scala? You don't need to be a data scientist or distributed computing expert to appreciate this object-oriented functional programming language. This practical book provides a comprehensive yet approachable introduction to the language, complete with syntax diagrams, examples, and exercises. You'll start with Scala's core types and syntax before diving into higher-order functions and immutable data structures. Author Jason Swartz demonstrates why Scala's concise and expressive syntax make it an ideal language for Ruby or Python developers who want to improve their craft, while its type safety and performance ensures that it's stable and fast enough for any application. Learn about the core data types, literals, values, and variables Discover how to think and write in expressions, the foundation for Scala's syntax Write higher-order functions that accept or return other functions Become familiar with immutable data structures and easily transform them with type-safe and declarative operations Create custom infix operators to simplify existing operations or even to start your own domain-specific language Build classes that compose one or more traits for full reusability, or create new functionality by mixing them in at instantiation