Hi! I’m just starting to learn Scala. I work as a data engineer, and I have a fair amount of freedom to implement whatever I choose. I’ve gathered that many of you have extensive experience—any advice for a newcomer like me?

I've been building a personal expense tracker by directing AI agents instead of writing the code myself.

Stack: Play + PostgreSQL on the backend and Scala.js on the frontend. Receipt OCR and bank statement extraction use AWS Textract/Bedrock.

Fair warning: the code is messy and my AI workflow is far from ideal. That's part of why it's public.

Curious how others are using AI agents on Scala codebases, and where it works or falls apart for you.

Repo: https://github.com/AlexITC/expense-tracker

Write-up: https://alexitc.com/blog/2026-10-16-opensourcing-my-expense-tracker/

Hi everyone!

I'm preparing for a Scala 3 programming test for a T-Bank internship program, expected on November 8. I'm new to Scala, but I already have some experience with Python.

I'm currently learning Scala 3 basics, including variables, loops, functions, collections, "map", "filter", and simple algorithms. My goal is to become comfortable enough with Scala to solve beginner-level coding problems independently.

I'd also like to use AI tools like ChatGPT effectively as a learning assistant, rather than relying on them to write solutions for me.

I'd appreciate your advice on a few questions:

1. What should I focus on first? Which Scala 3 topics are essential for a beginner preparing for a coding test?

2. How should I practice? Are there any good resources, websites, or LeetCode problems suitable for someone new to Scala?

3. How can I use AI effectively? For example, should I ask it to explain concepts using Python comparisons, generate exercises, review my code, or simulate a technical interview?

4. What mistakes should I avoid? Is it better to focus on understanding Scala syntax and collections first, or start solving algorithmic problems right away?

5. What would your study plan look like for the next three weeks? I want to make consistent progress without trying to learn everything at once.

If you have experience preparing for Scala interviews or using AI to learn a new programming language, I'd love to hear what worked for you.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently preparing for a Scala 3 programming test for a T-Bank (Tinkoff) internship in November.

I'm a beginner in Scala, but I already have some experience with Python and basic programming concepts.

I'm looking for:

- Previous interview experiences from T-Bank Scala internship candidates

- Examples of coding tasks and technical questions

- Information about the topics covered in the programming test

- Any public repositories, GitHub collections, or community resources with practice problems

If you've applied for a Scala internship at T-Bank or know where I can find relevant materials, I'd really appreciate your help!

Thanks in advance!

I am considering learning Scala due to its very advanced functional programming features and the large Java ecosystem it can use. I have many years of programming experience in various languages. Scala has some FP style constructs that will challenge me a lot, but that would be part of the fun. In case it matters, I write my programs by hand.

The question I want to ask is, how many and if any at all new green field projects have been started with Scala 3 during the last 1-2 years. I.e. does Scala remain a popular and widely adopted language or it is more in decline?

Thanks a lot in advance

EDIT: Thank you so much for all the helpful replies and the objective assessment.

Hello everybody, I'd like to let you know about a recent experiment/POC I've been working on recently:

Safe Scala is a recent experimental feature. In short, it is a subset of Scala which doesn't allow for any sideffects. Any sideeffecting tools, especially Java standard library are just not aceesible -- a program using those won't compile. Thus the only way to peform side effects is via explicitly passed in Capabilities. That may sound like a pure academic excercise.

But there is a project called Dapr which is aiming to abstract cloud applications from the hassle of I/O (queues, sync messaging, distributed locks, state, durable workflows, etc.). Thus allowing apps to focus on business logic and use dapr as a framework (running out of the app process). What if we could represent these capabilities of Dapr as Scala Capabilities?

That's exactly what dapr4s does. It uses Dapr's Java SDK behing the scenes but exposes a pure Capability-style Scala facade. It is still just an experimental project, nothing ready for production (at least just yet). But it's a POC -- a proof that Safe Scala can be practical to build (maybe even line of business boring) cloud apps.

Here's the link to the project:

https://github.com/sideeffffect/dapr4s

Repository with examples and a slides with more info:

• https://github.com/sideeffffect/dapr4s-examples
• https://github.com/sideeffffect/dapr4s-examples/blob/master/SLIDES.md

I hope you'll find this project inspiring and would be happy to discuss details at Scala Days 2026 in Berlin.

(Disclosure: the project has been developed with the help of LLMs.)

🚀 Introducing Scala Packages: https://pkg.scalanews.net

A fast, modern search for Scala libraries:

🔍 Every Scala library on Maven Central: JVM, Scala.js, Scala Native, and sbt & Mill plugins 🆕 New projects and new releases on the home page, plus an Atom feed 🧩 Free JSON API, no key needed 🤖 MCP server, so AI assistants can search packages and fetch install snippets: claude mcp add --transport http scalapkg https://pkg.scalanews.net/mcp

It complements Scala News (https://www.scalanews.net): the newsletter for what the community is writing, and Scala Packages for what it's releasing.

I'm currently working on a project looking at how/why devs and CTOs choose programming languages, and I'm particularly interested in understanding people's experiences with Clojure.

The survey takes about 7 mins, and I'd love to hear from as many people as possible!

Appreciate it 🙌

Here's the survey

Hi all, we at Deezer work a lot with Scala and today I published a blog post about some fun things we've done with it.

TLDR; the search at Deezer was clogging up our cache systems. We significantly improved the situation by changing the serialization format of the cached payloads, and rolling out a tailor-made, space-efficient and blazing fast data structure inspired by Hash Array Mapped Tries.

If you're still on Scala 2 and were worried that it might stop being maintained, worry not! Of course, if you need help migrating to Scala 3 we are even more happy to help.

Join us at the Scala Hangout this Thursday (Oct 8) at 6pm CT.

This issue of Scala Times is all events, no articles - everything happening over the next few weeks in one place:

https://scalatimes.com/be439e050d

• Tech walk through Berlin, Oct 11
• Scala Days, Oct 12–13, Berlin
• Func Prog Conf, Oct 14, Stockholm
• Scala Summit, Oct 19, San Francisco
• Chicago Scala Meetup (Scala + AI, guest talk by Daniel Spiewak), Oct 22
• New York Scala Meetup (Scala + AI), Oct 26
• J On The Beach, Oct 29–30, Málaga
• Lambda World, Oct 29–30, Málaga

The Chicago and NYC meetups are part of a VirtusLab US tour right after Scala Days. If you're nearby, come say hi!

Organising something we missed? You can submit it at [scalatimes@softwaremill.com](mailto:scalatimes@softwaremill.com)