This course is part of the Functional Programming in Scala Specialization

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Martin Odersky

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Functional Programming in Scala SpecializationÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

About this Course

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Functional programming is becoming increasingly widespread in industry. This trend is driven by the adoption of Scala as the main programming language for many applications. Scala fuses functional and object-oriented programming in a practical package. It interoperates seamlessly with both Java and Javascript. Scala is the implementation language of many important frameworks, including Apache Spark, Kafka, and Akka. It provides the core infrastructure for sites such as Twitter, Netflix, Zalando, and also Coursera.
In this course, you will discover the elements of the functional programming style and learn how to apply them usefully in your daily programming tasks, such as modeling business domains or implementing business logic. You will also develop a solid foundation for reasoning about functional programs, by touching upon proofs of invariants and the tracing of execution symbolically.

The course is hands-on; most units introduce short programs that serve as illustrations of important concepts and invite you to play with them, modifying and improving them. The course is complemented by a series of programming projects as homework assignments.

Recommended background: You should have at least one year of programming experience. Proficiency with Java or C# is ideal, but experience with other languages such as C/C++, Python, Javascript, or Ruby is also sufficient. You should have some familiarity using the command line.

Flexible deadlines

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Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

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Course 1 of 5 in the

Functional Programming in Scala Specialization

Intermediate Level

At least one year of programming (in any language)

Approx. 56 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

What you will learn

Understand the principles of functional programming
Write purely functional programs, using recursion, pattern matching, and higher-order functions
Design immutable data structures
Combine functional programming with objects and classes

Skills you will gain

Scala Programming
Recursion
Functional Programming
Immutable Data Types
Higher-Order Function

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Course 1 of 5 in the

Functional Programming in Scala Specialization

Intermediate Level

At least one year of programming (in any language)

Approx. 56 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.8/5 (566 Ratings)

Martin Odersky

Offered by

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating91%(19,164 ratings)

Week

Week 1

14 hours to complete

Getting Started + Functions & Evaluation

Get up and running with Scala on your computer. Complete an example assignment to familiarize yourself with our unique way of submitting assignments. In this week, we'll learn the difference between functional imperative programming. We step through the basics of Scala; covering expressions, evaluation, conditionals, functions, and recursion

14 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 52 min), 7 readings, 10 quizzes

8 videos

Course Introduction1m

Lecture 1.1 - Programming Paradigms2m

Lecture 1.2 - Elements of Programming12m

Lecture 1.3 - Evaluation Strategies and Termination4m

Lecture 1.4 - Conditionals and Value Definitions8m

Lecture 1.5 - Example: square roots with Newton's method4m

Lecture 1.6 - Blocks and Lexical Scope8m

Lecture 1.7 - Tail recursion9m

7 readings

Working on Assignments5m

Tools Setup (Please read)10m

Scala 3 REPL and Worksheets10m

Cheat Sheet10m

SBT tutorial and Submission of Assignments (Please read)10m

Learning Resources10m

Scala Style Guide10m

7 practice exercises

Programming Paradigms30m

Elements of Programming30m

Evaluation Strategies and Termination30m

Square roots with Newton's method30m

Blocks and Lexical Scope30m

Tail recursion30m

Learning check-in30m

Week

Week 2

10 hours to complete

Higher Order Functions

This week, we'll learn about functions as first-class values, and higher order functions. We'll also learn about Scala's syntax and how it's formally defined. Finally, we'll learn about methods, classes, and data abstraction through the design of a data structure for rational numbers.

10 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 73 min)

8 videos

Week 2: Introduction31s

Lecture 2.1 - Higher-order functions8m

Lecture 2.2 - Currying15m

Lecture 2.3 - Example: Finding Fixed Points7m

Lecture 2.4 - Scala Syntax Summary4m

Lecture 2.5 - Functions and Data10m

Lecture 2.6 - More Fun With Rationals13m

2.7 - Evaluations and Operators13m

5 practice exercises

Higher-order functions30m

Currying30m

Functions and data30m

More Fun With Rationals30m

Evaluations and Operators30m

Week

Week 3

9 hours to complete

Data and Abstraction

This week, we'll cover traits, and we'll learn how to organize classes into hierarchies. We'll cover the hierarchy of standard Scala types, and see how to organize classes and traits into packages. Finally, we'll touch upon the different sorts of polymorphism in Scala.

9 hours to complete

6 videos (Total 58 min)

Week

Week 4

10 hours to complete

Types and Pattern Matching

This week we'll learn about the relationship between functions and objects in Scala; functions *are* objects! We'll zoom in on Scala's type system, covering subtyping and generics, and moving on to more advanced aspects of Scala's type system like variance. Finally, we'll cover Scala's most widely used data structure, Lists, and one of Scala's most powerful tools, pattern matching.

10 hours to complete

7 videos (Total 69 min)

Reviews

4.8

1638 reviews

5 stars
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4 stars
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3 stars
1.70%
2 stars
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1 star
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TOP REVIEWS FROM FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES IN SCALA

by RRApr 11, 2020

Amazin course. Many mathematics concepts have to be in mind to be easy to understand. I think the week 5 would be really useful to solve section 4. I enjoyed the couse and the challenges in it.

by THJul 1, 2016

I found it to be a good introduction to functional programming and/or scala, and the assignments are challenging enough to be interesting to those who are not complete beginners in those subjects.

by VPSep 13, 2018

It took me much longer than expected to finish the course and sometimes it made me feel stupid and helpless. Diving into functional programming was a mind bending experience, totally worth time spent!

by AMAug 4, 2020

Excellent content and instruction. could be improved by providing practice exercises with solutions. Also peer participation is too low to be useful, and there is no instructor feedback in the forum.

View all reviews

About the Functional Programming in Scala Specialization

Discover how to write elegant code that works the first time it is run.

This Specialization provides a hands-on introduction to functional programming using the widespread programming language, Scala. It begins from the basic building blocks of the functional paradigm, first showing how to use these blocks to solve small problems, before building up to combining these concepts to architect larger functional programs. You'll see how the functional paradigm facilitates parallel and distributed programming, and through a series of hands on examples and programming assignments, you'll learn how to analyze data sets small to large; from parallel programming on multicore architectures, to distributed programming on a cluster using Apache Spark. A final capstone project will allow you to apply the skills you learned by building a large data-intensive application using real-world data.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

Functional Programming Principles in Scala