So I've been taking a Scala class on Coursera and I must say that it is a good class. I've been learning a few new things. So I was wondering if there are other Scala users here on GDN. What are your thoughts on the language? Any good books or resources you can share? Any do or don'ts I should be aware of in Scala?

Yes. Much better than having to use Java when you're stuck on the JVM. :)

Yes. Much better than having to use Java when you're stuck on the JVM.

I haven't invested heavily in learning it yet, but that about sums up my enthusiasm for it. I like it for the little that I've played with it. The JVM is a perfectly fine platform, but Java itself I find to be maddeningly dogmatic and far too wordy for my tastes. C# has its faults, but there's good reason it has a reputation for being "Java Done Right" -- for those reasons, and the fact that its a neat functional-inspired language, that Scala is my JVM language of choice.

I should probably check out that Coursera Scala course... I think I have a discount through work.

I'm just starting to learn some Scala. My compilers course is based in Scala. So far I'm really enjoying it, and am really interested some llvm work being done on a Scala front end.

As I'm just learning myself, I don't have a lot of suggestions, but one precaution I would suggest is just understanding what things are doing. You can express some algorithms in very concise ways in Scala, but if you don't know what's happening behind the scenes, you might be making huge temporary copies of large arrays/data structures which may (or may not) end up being a bottle neck for you (CPU and/or memory wise). So if you're going to use nice tools like filter (for example), take a bit of time to understand what it's doing so you can use it effectively. This answer on a SO question is insightful for this type of thing.

I should probably check out that Coursera Scala course... I think I have a discount through work.

Why would you need a discount for free?

I just started the cousera functional programming with scala this weekend. Actually I was a bit late so ive missed the deadlines but I am following along with the lectures and doing the assignments for some practice. I also bought the "Scala for the impatient book" and downloaded an ebook copy of the official text.

I should probably check out that Coursera Scala course... I think I have a discount through work.

Why would you need a discount for free?

Even better! I was confusing Coursera with another resource. My mistake.