Atomic Scala

by Bruce Eckel

Atomic Scala introduces the foundations of the Scala programming language in very small steps (which we call atoms). The book is designed to simplify learning the language for both beginners and experienced programmers. Atomic Scala by Bruce Eckel and Dianne Marsh is now available as a print book (the eBook will appear later, once we sort out all the formatting issues, which are more involved because of fonts and code listings).

Genres: Computer Science, Technical

Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Bruce Eckel is a computer programmer, author, and consultant.
Eckel's best known works are Thinking in Java and the two-volume series Thinking in C++, aimed at programmers wanting to learn the Java or C++ programming languages, respectively, particularly those with little experience of object-oriented programming.
Eckel was a founding member of the ANSI/ISO C++ standard committee.

Reviews

[Michael Koltsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy books and conferences that Bruce Eckel does. When i approached “Atomic Scala” for the first time at the end of 2013 i was amazed. I’ve bought & read “Scala for the impatient” by Cay Horstmann up to this time, but i look at every Eckel’s book as a masterpiece. So, i was thrilled to buy and read it.

2014 has ended, but i didn’t do much Scala at that time and i forgot most of the things that i learned about Scala.

Since i try to learn a new programming language every year, i’ve decided to devote this one to learning Scala & Python. I’ve done some things with them in the past, but i haven’t excelled. As 2012 was Objective-C, 2013 was Clojure, 2014 was Coffeescript & Groovy, 2015 is all about Scala & Python for me.

Yeah, what’s about the book you might wonder? The book is easy as pie! Since we have long Christmas holidays i was able to read most of the book throughout the weekend. Exercises are great, they can give you some practical experience with Scala that you strive to have before starting your first project or finding a good OSS to contribute.

Last chapters can be tough sometimes, but the basics are taught brilliantly!

My score 5/5

[Chris Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice introductory text for the Scala programming language. By focusing on bite-sized pieces, avoiding "forward references" (there are a few instances of "we'll discuss this more later" but no "just copy this until we describe it"), and not relying on existing knowledge of some other programming language, this book does a nice job of introducing a language that is often criticized for being too complicated. It shows that with a thoughtful introduction, the Scala language is more powerful and expressive than other languages (ahem, Java) while also being more internally consistent. All the "atoms" are very focused and easy to follow, and except for the last few, can be pretty easily understood in a single review. This book won't get you a deep grounding in Scala (and doesn't intend to) but rather a very solid foundation for further experimentation and study. Recommended.

[Andy Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this book and almost all its exercises. This book is great for experienced developers who are new to Scala. However it mainly focuses on Syntax and not dive deep into functional programming, which is a main paradigm of Scala. Next I will digest "Functional Programming with Scala"

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've bought it without hesitation - I didn't check any reviews, I didn't download the sample (100 initial pages, avail at the official site), I just paid for the book the day it was published. Why? Two reasons: it's about Scala :) and it was written by Bruce Eckel.

Who the hell is Bruce Eckel? Bruce is an author of some of the most important technical books I've ever read - Thinking in Java and Thinking in C++. They were published helluva time ago, but I still remember how superior they were, when compared to any other tech books available. Bruce had a gift of describing complex topics in an easy way. Usually his books lacked good pace in the beginning, but once he started digging into the details, there was no mercy -> you had to put some effort into reading, but the knowledge you were getting as a reward was worth it.

What about his latest book then? It's quite a similar story. First, this book doesn't assume you know any other programming languages - that's a bit annoying in the beginning (because Bruce explains the very basics), but you can skim that through to go for some true "meat". The overall content of this book isn't as comprehensive as "Scala in Action" or "Programming in Scala", but it's very well organized, so if you're about to start your adventure with Scala, this book is highly recommended.

[Brian Vanderbusch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abandoned it for now. Stopped at the sentence that read "Scala is both object oriented and a functional language. This book focuses on objects..."

What I'd gone through was decent up to that point, but the hybrid nature of scala, and especially it's functional side, are what make it so different than anything else.

Might be a good approach for a reader who is a beginning programmer entirely, but Scala isn't likely to be a beginner's first language, so ignoring what makes Scala different... I feel is a poor decision on the part of the author.

[to je · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comfortable reading experience.

[Naveen Molleti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good easy introduction to Scala. Introduces solution patterns and syntax. Nothing advanced. Not much discussion of functional programming in general either.

[Axl Mattheus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scala from top to bottom in 2 days.