Best Scala Books 2024

Programming in Scala Fifth Edition

Programming in Scala by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon, Bill Venners and Frank Sommers is the definitive book on Scala, the popular language for the Java platform that combines functional and object-oriented programming concepts into a single powerful developer tool. It is co-authored by the Scala language designer, will teach you, step by step, the Scala language and the ideas behind it.

The book is carefully crafted to help you learn. The first few chapters will give you enough of the basics that you can already start using Scala for simple tasks. The entire book is organized so that each new concept builds on concepts that came before—a series of steps that promises to help you master the Scala language and the important ideas about programming that Scala embodies. A comprehensive tutorial and reference for Scala, this book covers the entire language and important libraries.

If you read earlier editions, this fifth edition is a major rewrite of the book to cover Scala 3.0. Some chapters have been added and others removed. This edition describes Scala 3.0 in detail, including:

Enums and ADTs
Context parameters and givens
Extension methods
Quiet syntax and optional braces
Trait parameters
Union and intersection types
Export clauses
Top-level definitions

This is the best Scala book in 2023.

Scala for the Impatient (3rd Edition)

Scala for the Impatient by Cay S. Horstmann. Scala 3 is concise, consistent, flexible, robust, and efficient, but there’s a lot to learn and navigating features and improvements can be challenging. Scala for the Impatient, Third Edition, is a complete yet concise guide that reflects the major enhancements of Scala 3, from improved syntax and revamped type system to powerful contextual abstractions.

This indispensable tutorial offers a faster, easier pathway for learning today’s Scala. Horstmann–author of the programming classic, Core Java–covers everything working developers need to know, focusing on hands-on solutions, not academic theory. Given the size and scope of Scala 3, there’s plenty to cover but it’s presented in small chunks organized for quick access and easy understanding, with plenty of practical insights and focused sample code.

Get started quickly with Scala 3 interpreter, syntax, tools, and current usage
Master core language features: functions, arrays, maps, tuples, packages, imports, exception handling, and more
Design and build better object-oriented code with Scala 3
Use Scala for real-world programming tasks: working with files, regular expressions, and processes
Work with higher-order functions and the powerful Scala collections library
Create concurrent programs with Scala futures
Understand the Scala type system, including revamped enums, intersection and union types, and enhanced type inference
Use contextual abstractions to easily extend class hierarchies, enrich existing classes, perform automatic conversions, and elegantly hide tedious details
Apply advanced “power tools” such as annotations and given values
Discover how to “program with types,” analyzing and generating types at compile time
Get a taste of what’s now possible with Scala macros

If you’re a Java, Python, C++, or C# programmer who’s new to Scala or functional programming–or even if you’ve already used earlier versions of Scala–this guide will help you write code that’s more robust, more efficient, and more secure.

This is the best Scala book for beginners in 2023.

Functional Programming in Scala, Second Edition

Functional Programming in Scala by Paul Chiusano and Rúnar Bjarnason and Paul Chiusano. Discover the power that functional programming brings to your Scala code. This international bestseller has been revised with new exercises, annotations, and full coverage of Scala 3.

The first edition of Functional Programming in Scala has helped over 30,000 developers discover the power of functional programming. This second edition is fully updated to Scala 3 and the latest standards of FP. Inside, you’ll find a serious tutorial for programmers looking to apply functional programming to improve their everyday coding practices.

Functional Programming in Scala, Second Edition teaches you functional programming from first principles using the powerful Scala language. You’ll develop the unique skills you need to start thinking functionally through hands-on exercises and coding challenges. New to the revised second edition, each exercise comes with extensive annotations to help you understand functional programming in-depth.

Programming Scala 3rd Edition: Scalability = Functional Programming + Objects

by Dean Wampler. Get up to speed on Scala–the JVM, JavaScript, and natively compiled language that offers all the benefits of functional programming, a modern object model, and an advanced type system. Packed with code examples, this comprehensive book shows you how to be productive with the language and ecosystem right away. You’ll learn why Scala is ideal for building today’s highly scalable, data-centric applications, while maximizing developer productivity.

While Java remains popular and Kotlin has become popular, Scala hasn’t been sitting still. This third edition covers the new features in Scala 3.0 with updates throughout the book. Programming Scala is ideal for beginning to advanced developers who want a complete understanding of Scala’s design philosophy and features with a thoroughly practical focus.

Program faster with Scala’s succinct and flexible syntax
Dive into basic and advanced functional programming techniques
Build killer big data and distributed apps using Scala’s functional combinators and tools like Spark and Akka
Create concise solutions to challenging design problems with the sophisticated type system, mixin composition with traits, pattern matching, and more

Scala Cookbook Second Edition

Recipes for Object-Oriented and Functional Programming by Alvin Alexander. Save time and trouble building object-oriented, functional, and concurrent applications with Scala 3. The latest edition of this best book for scala is packed with more than 250 ready-to-use recipes and 700 code examples to help you solve the most common problems when working with Scala and its popular libraries.

Whether you’re working on web, big data, or distributed applications, this cookbook provides recipes based on real-world scenarios for experienced Scala developers and for programmers just learning to use this JVM language. Author Alvin Alexander includes practical solutions from his experience using Scala for highly scalable applications that support concurrency and distribution.

Recipes cover:

Strings, numbers, and control structures
Classes, methods, objects, traits, packaging, and imports
Functional programming in a variety of situations
Building Scala applications with sbt
Collections covering Scala’s wealth of classes and methods
Actors and concurrency
List, array, map, set, and more
Files, processes, and command-line tasks
Web services and interacting with Java
Databases and persistence, data types and idioms

Hands-on Scala Programming: Learn Scala in a Practical, Project-Based Way

by Haoyi Li teaches you how to use the Scala programming language in a practical, project-based fashion. This best books for scala is designed to quickly teach an existing programmer everything needed to go from “hello world” to building production applications like interactive websites, parallel web crawlers, and distributed systems in Scala. In the process you will learn how to use the Scala language to solve challenging problems in an elegant and intuitive manner.

Introduction to Programming and Problem-Solving Using Scala (Chapman & Hall/CRC Textbooks in Computing) 2nd Edition

Mark Lewis was first textbook to use Scala for introductory CS courses. Fully revised and expanded, the new edition of this best books on scala has been divided into two books. Introduction to Programming and Problem-Solving Using Scala is designed to be used in first semester college classrooms to teach students beginning programming with Scala. The scala best books focuses on the key topics students need to know in an introductory course, while also highlighting the features that make Scala a great programming language to learn.

The book is filled with end-of-chapter projects and exercises, and the authors have also posted a number of different supplements on the book website. Video lectures for each chapter in the book are also available on YouTube. The videos show construction of code from the ground up and this type of “live coding” is invaluable for learning to program, as it allows students into the mind of a more experienced programmer, where they can see the thought processes associated with the development of the code.

Learning Scala: Practical Functional Programming for the JVM

by Jason Swartz provides a comprehensive but accessible introduction to the language, with syntax diagrams, examples, and exercises. You’ll start with the basic types and syntax of Scala before diving into higher-order functions and immutable data structures with this best book on scala. Jason Swartz demonstrates why Scala’s concise and expressive syntax makes it an ideal language for Ruby or Python developers who want to improve as a scala programmer, while security and performance of its kind ensures that it is stable enough and fast for any Scala applications. You will:

Learn about the main data types, literals, values, and variables.
Learn to think and write in expressions, the foundation of Scala syntax
Write higher-order functions that accept or return other functions
Get familiar with immutable data structures and easily transform them with declarative and type-safe operations
Create custom infix operators to simplify existing operations or even start your own domain-specific language
Create classes that make up one or more features for complete reuse, or create new functionality by mixing them together during instantiation

Scala in Action: Covers Scala 2.10

by Nilanjan Raychaudhuri is a complete Scala tutorial that presents the language through clear explanations and many practical examples. A “how-to” approach is needed, explaining language concepts while exploring familiar programming tasks. You’ll tackle concurrent programming in Akka, learn how to work with Scala and Spring, and learn how to create DSL and other productivity tools. You will learn the language and how to use it. Experienced programmers who have Experience with Java is helpful but not necessary. Ruby and Python programmers will also find this best scala books for beginners accessible.

Scala in Depth

by Joshua D Suereth is best book to learn scala is a complete to help start learning Scala effectively into your development process. By showcasing best practices and emerging designs from the Scala community, it guides you through dozens of powerful techniques, for example. There’s little solid theory here, just dozens of neat, practical techniques for coding in Scala. Written for readers familiar with Java or are java programmers, Scala, or another Object oriented language.