Var, variables. We use var in Scala to store a variable—it can be changed. A var can be reassigned. The val keyword, meanwhile, refers to a constant.
Program quality. Imagine a variable X is needed in 2 places. With val, an incorrect reassignment would not compile—we can correct it faster.
First example. Let us use var in a simple Scala program. We bind the variable with identifier "animal" to the string literal "cat." Then were assign it (rebind it) to the string "frog."
Tip With this var, we can see the animal means different strings (cat and frog) at different points in time.
// Assign variable to a string literal.var animal = "cat"
println(animal)
// Reassign the variable.
animal = "frog"
println(animal)cat
frog
Reassignment to val. This program does not work. We introduce the val keyword, but use it incorrectly. We cannot change a val to point to a different value—it can only be set once.
val animal = "cat"
println(animal)
// This will not compile.
animal = "frog"
println(animal)error: reassignment to val
animal = "frog"
^
one error found
Separate val constants. This program uses val in a correct way. We rewrote our program to have two values, not a variable that is changed in the middle.
// Use val for a value that cannot be reassigned.val color1 = "magenta"
println(color1)
// Use a separate val.val color2 = "aqua"
println(color2)magenta
aqua
Val type. With val we can specify a type. Here we specify two numbers with initial values of 10. But we specify size2 to be a Double, not an Int. It is printed with a decimal place.
// No type is specified, so Int is used.val size1 = 10
// Specify a Double type.val size2: Double = 10
// Print numbers.
println(size1)
println(size2)10
10.0
Class fields. With var and val we specify the fields of a class. In Scala these are public. Fields can be accessed outside the class body by default.
Detail We use var for width and height, as these can be mutated on Box instances. We assign them to 10 and 20.
Detail This is a constant value. It is a String. We cannot assign it, but we can access it and print its value.
class Box {
var width: Int = 0
var height: Int = 0
final val name: String = "Box"
}
// Create a new Box instance.
val box = new Box
// Assign width and height var fields.
box.width = 10
box.height = 20// Print fields of box instance.
println(box.width)
println(box.height)
println(box.name)10
20
Box
A summary. Immutable things are important in Scala. We have List, Map, Set: these are immutable data structures. With val, we have constants, immutable values—these improve program quality.
Dot Net Perls is a collection of tested code examples. Pages are continually updated to stay current, with code correctness a top priority.
Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.
This page was last updated on Nov 19, 2021 (edit).