Support for scala

[BoPeng]

Scala should in my opinion be the next language to support (after Ruby) because it has a Java root, which allows us to work with other Java flavored languages/kernels such as Kotlin later. It is also one of the front end languages to Spark so supporting Scala will lead to support to a number of kernels such as iScala and iSpark.

[spockoyno]

I think Scala support would be very helpful. It's not just Spark but also Scala's other benefits for data science, like functional programming and multi-threading. I wonder if there is some time frame for this feature?

Thank you for creating such a useful tool with lots of unique functionality.

[BoPeng]

The only problem is that I do not know scala at all so I would need some one who is familiar with scala to help me along the way. For example, to answer simple questions such as 'what is the statement to list all local variables with names starting with sos'.

@spockoyno Will you be able to help?

[BoPeng]

I have created a repo sos-scala. It allows you to start Scala kernel from SoS with colored prompt, but does not do anything yet. We can move the discussions over there.

[spockoyno]

It does seem trickier than I thought. I'd love to help, but unfortunately can't do much for the next two - three months.

[BoPeng]

Ohmm, you do not need to do anything specific, just answer some questions listed under the sos-scala ticket tracker. It should be easy if you are reasonably familiar with scala, but I will understand if you do not have the time or knowledge.

A related story is that a user requested support for Stata and I was able to add support for Stata in two days, with a trial version of Stata from Stata software and technical support from one of their developers.