Scala support native functions (outside an object) as C++ do, while in Java you have to use static methods.

Definition:

def abs(x: Double) = if (x > 0) x else -x

def fac(n: Int) = {
	var r = 1
	for (i <- 1 to n) r = r * i
	r
}

Types of all parameters must be specified, but no need to specify the return type when the function is not recursive. With a recursive function, you must specify the return type.

def fac(n: Int): Int = if (n <= 0) 1 else n * fac(n - 1)

There are no return keywords. The return value is the value of the block statement after the assignment sign.

There are no throws keywords to declare the exceptions that can be thrown, as it is not necessary to state a function throws an exception. However, @throws(classOf[ExceptionClass]) does this, and multiple annotations can be applied to one function.

Scala is also a Functional Programming launguage, a function is a “first-class citizen”, so you can assign it to a val or var:

// The underscore indicates you really mean the function itself, and you didn't just forget to supply the parameters.
val fun = scala.math.ceil _
val double = (i: Int) => { i * 2 }

Under the covers, a function variable is an instance of the Function1 trait, which defines a function that takes one argument. The scala package defines similar traits with 0 up to 22 arguments.

The Type of Functions

Its type is written as (parameterType) => resultType.

Parameters

It is possible to provide default values. When the number of parameters provided is less than the actual number, default values are applied from the end (right). Parameters with default values must be after those without to take advantage of the default values. This means def connect(timeout: Int = 6000, protocol: String) will compile, but you cannot call it without specifying value for timeout.

Named arguments are supported. Mixture of named and unnamed parameters are supported.

Parameter checking is enforced using require() method. It takes a Boolean parameter, and if it evaluates to false, it throws and IllegalArgumentException.

Variable number of parameters

def sum(args: Int*) = {
	var result = 0
	for (arg <- args) result += arg
	result
}

args is a varargs field of type Seq. In this case, if the function is called with one argument, it needs to be a single Integer. The _* method adapts a sequence to a varargs field:

val s = sum(1 to 5: _*)

Attempting to define another parameter after a varargs field is not allowed. As an implication of this, a method can have only one varargs field.

0-args v.s. Parentheses-less

You can define a function without parentheses. You can call a parameterless methods with parentheses or without parentheses, but you cannot call a parenthesesless method with empty parentheses. A good style is:

  • Mutator methods (that changes the object state) use parentheses.
  • Accessor methods don’t use parentheses.

Return value

Scala lets you return multiple values using tuples.

def func() = {
    ...
    (a, b, c)
}
val (a, b, c) = func()

Higher-order Functions

You can pass a function into another function by specifying the function type:

def fun(f: (Double) => Double) = f(0.25)

Then function fun is a higher-order function.

A function can also returns a function:

def mulBy(factor : Double) = (x : Double) => factor * x

Then val triple = mulBy(3) forms a closure: it consists of code about mulBy and the nonlocal parameter 3.

Partial Function

A partial function of type PartialFunction[A, B] is a unary function where the domain does not necessarily include all values of type A. The function isDefinedAt allows you to test dynamically if a value is in the domain of the function.

Partial functions are often written using case statements:

val divide2: PartialFunction[ Int, Int] = {
    case d: Int if d != 0 => 42 / d
}

Partial function’s isDefinedAt method tests if the given input is within the define domain.

Partial function can be chained sequentially with andThen method, which applies another partial function on the output of this partial function, or expand the input domain with orElse method which applies another partial function when input is not defined for this partial function.

One example of where you’ll run into partial functions is with the collect method on collections’ classes. The collect method takes a partial function as input, and as its Scaladoc describes, collect “Builds a new collection by applying a partial function to all elements of this list on which the function is defined.” Therefore, it will not throw exceptions like map when the input is not defined by the given operation.

Procedures

Procedure is special function that returns no value, or return Unit to be precise. It is a function without the = between definition and body:

def doSomething(s: String) { // no =
	print(s)
}

To be cautious, avoid using it and explicitly returns Unit in the function definition.

Anonymous Functions

(x: Double) => 3 * x is an anonymous function, or function literal. You can enclose it in braces, especially it is part of infix notations:

Array(3, 2, 1) map { (x: Double) => 3 * x }

Parameter Inference

When you pass an anonymous function to another function or method, since the input type is given, Scala helps you deduce the type. For example, suppose def fun(f: (Double) => Double) = f(0.25), then

fun((x: Double) => 3 * x)

can be written as

fun((x) => 3 * x)

In this case, you can omit the parentheses around the only parameter:

fun(x => 3 * x)

If the parameter occurs only once in the right hand side, you can replace it with underscore:

fun(3 * _)

The reduced notation can be used in definition of anonymous function as well:

val fun = 3 * (_: Double) // specifies type
val fun: (Double) => Double = 3 * _ // also specifies type

If it consists of one statement that takes a single argument, you need not explicitly name and specify the argument. e.g.

x.foreach(println)

Tail Recursion

To transform a while loop that involves using vars to more functional style code with only vals, recursion is used. Scala compiler is able to automatically apply optimization to tail recursion by transforming it into a while loop.

To explicitly apply tail recursion optimization, supply @tailrec annotation.

Partially applied function

In functional programming languages, when you call a function that has parameters, you are said to be applying the function to the parameters. When all the parameters are passed to the function — something you always do in Java — you have fully applied the function to all of the parameters. But when you give only a subset of the parameters to the function, the result of the expression is a partially applied function.

val c = scala.math.cos _

c is called a partially applied function. It’s partially applied because the cos method requires one argument, which you have not yet supplied.

Simmilary, you can apply parameters to some arguments, leaving others free:

val sum = (a: Int, b: Int) => a + b
val f = sum(a, _: Int)

f is a partial function with one parameter.

Closure

There are many definitions of closure. Wikipedia defines a closure like this:

“In computer science, a closure (also lexical closure or function closure) is a function together with a referencing environment for the non-local variables of that function. A closure allows a function to access variables outside its immediate lexical scope.”

Paul Cantrell states,

“a closure is a block of code which meets three criteria:

  1. The block of code can be passed around as a value, and
  2. It can be executed on demand by anyone who has that value, at which time
  3. It can refer to variables from the context in which it was created (i.e., it is closed with respect to variable access, in the mathematical sense of the word “closed”).

For a function that exercises closure, its references to variables in the enclosing scope become free variable along with arguments of this function. Thus the values of closure are passed to function implicitly.