Hacker News was created by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, as a place for tech-savvy individuals to share and discuss interesting content related to technology, startups, programming, and more.

Initially, it started as a simple link aggregator, where users could submit links to articles, blog posts, and projects they found intriguing.

Over time, it evolved into a thriving community with a strong emphasis on intellectual curiosity, thoughtful discussions, and quality content.

I'm an avid reader of Hacker News and often come across high-quality discussions from the community. I found that the courses and books people discuss on Hacker News are really good, so I conduct monthly analyses and aggregate the top courses/books found in comments and rank them.

Why Learn Scala Programming

Scala (short for scalable) programming language is a general-purpose and scalable computer programming language. It is described as a high-level programming language that comprises the two most popular programming approaches: object-oriented and functional. 

Compatibility With Java

Scala runs on Java Virtual Machine (JVM). As a result, it can seamlessly interoperate with Java code, allowing you to use Java libraries directly from Scala code. In other words, you can call Scala code from Java and write parts of your program in Scala and the rest in Java. It is not surprising if Scala becomes a mainstream language with this feature. 

Multi-Paradigm Language

Scala differs from Java because it supports both object oriented and functional programming paradigms. You can develop more competitive programming skills by learning one language from each paradigm, such as imperative, logical, functional, and OOP. Scala allows you to learn functional programming and object oriented programming at the same time. 

Static Typing 

Static typing helps you detect programming errors quickly, reliably, and automatically without running a program. This is contrary to dynamic typing, where you find errors once you run the program. Scala is a statically typed language but often feels like a flexible and dynamic language. You can work more efficiently with your accurate code, saving time on debugging and testing. 

Concise Syntax 

Scala is compiled and statically typed, as mentioned earlier. It is far more concise than Java. In the book, The Well-Grounded Java Developer, Scala is likened to a scripting language because of its “concise and beautiful code.” Creating concise and clean code allows a Scala developer to work much faster and more productively.

Efficiency and Productivity 

Scala’s multi-paradigm and static typing features, concise syntax, and Java compatibility make you an efficient and productive developer. You can write fewer lines of code, finish projects faster, reduce bugs early, and improve the end-user experience of your program.  

Top Books

Our methodology

We conducted this analysis by "ranking things based on social signals"

It's the result of mining the HN archives for references to books and then ranking them and displaying all references in one place.

Ranking currently takes into account HN stories (points) and comments (sentiment, karma, estimated points).

Who are we

Find accountability partners, and study online courses & books with other learners. Moocable helps you find your next course/book/problem set, and lets you find study partners.