Scala Programming for Beginner: Scala

Monday, May 7, 2012

Scala - Traits

Post under Basic, Scala, Tutorial at 11:52 PM Posted by Admin

A trait encapsulates method and field definitions, which can then be reused by mixing them into classes. Unlike class inheritance, in which each class must inherit from just one superclass, a class can mix in any number of traits.

Traits are used to define object types by specifying the signature of the supported methods. Scala also allows traits to be partially implemented but traits may not have constructor parameters.

A trait definition looks just like a class definition except that it uses the keyword trait as follows:

trait Equal {
  def isEqual(x: Any): Boolean
  def isNotEqual(x: Any): Boolean = !isEqual(x)
}

This trait consists of two methods isEqual and isNotEqual. Here we have not given any implementation for isEqual where as another method has its implementation. Child classes extending a trait can give implementation for the un-implemented methods. So a trait is very similar to what we have abstract classes in Java. Below is a complete example to show the concept of traits:

trait Equal {
  def isEqual(x: Any): Boolean
  def isNotEqual(x: Any): Boolean = !isEqual(x)
}

class Point(xc: Int, yc: Int) extends Equal {
  var x: Int = xc
  var y: Int = yc
  def isEqual(obj: Any) =
    obj.isInstanceOf[Point] &&
    obj.asInstanceOf[Point].x == x
}

object Test {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      val p1 = new Point(2, 3)
      val p2 = new Point(2, 4)
      val p3 = new Point(3, 3)

      println(p1.isNotEqual(p2))
      println(p1.isNotEqual(p3))
      println(p1.isNotEqual(2))
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

C:/>scalac Test.scala
C:/>scala Test
false
true
true

C:/>

When to use traits?

There is no firm rule, but here are few guidelines to consider:

If the behavior will not be reused, then make it a concrete class. It is not reusable behavior after all.
If it might be reused in multiple, unrelated classes, make it a trait. Only traits can be mixed into different parts of the class hierarchy.
If you want to inherit from it in Java code, use an abstract class.
If you plan to distribute it in compiled form, and you expect outside groups to write classes inheriting from it, you might lean towards using an abstract class.
If efficiency is very important, lean towards using a class.

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