Scala - Environment Setup

Try it Option Online

We have set up the Scala Programming environment on-line, so that you can compile and execute all the available examples on line. It gives you confidence in what you are reading and enables you to verify the programs with different options. Feel free to modify any example and execute it on-line.

Try the following example using our on-line compiler available at CodingGround.

object HelloWorld {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      println("Hello, world!")
   }
}

For most of the examples given in this tutorial, you will find a Try it option in our website code sections at the top right corner that will take you to the online compiler. So just make use of it and enjoy your learning.

Scala can be installed on any UNIX flavored or Windows based system. Before you start installing Scala on your machine, you must have Java 1.8 or greater installed on your computer.
Follow the steps given below to install Scala.

Step 1: Verify Your Java Installation

First of all, you need to have Java Software Development Kit (SDK) installed on your system. To verify this, execute any of the following two commands depending on the platform you are working on.
If the Java installation has been done properly, then it will display the current version and specification of your Java installation. A sample output is given in the following table.

Platform	Command	Sample Output
Windows	Open Command Console and type − \>java –version	Java version "1.8.0_31" Java (TM) SE Run Time Environment (build 1.8.0_31-b31) Java Hotspot (TM) 64-bit Server VM (build 25.31-b07, mixed mode)
Linux	Open Command terminal and type − $java –version	Java version "1.8.0_31" Open JDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.8.10.4.el6_4-x86_64) Open JDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.31-b07, mixed mode)

We assume that the readers of this tutorial have Java SDK version 1.8.0_31 installed on their system.
In case you do not have Java SDK, download its current version from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html and install it.

Step 2: Set Your Java Environment

Set the environment variable JAVA_HOME to point to the base directory location where Java is installed on your machine. For example,

Sr.No	Platform & Description
1	Windows Set JAVA_HOME to C:\ProgramFiles\java\jdk1.7.0_60
2	Linux Export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java-current

Append the full path of Java compiler location to the System Path.

Sr.No	Platform & Description
1	Windows Append the String "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_60\bin" to the end of the system variable PATH.
2	Linux Export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin/

Execute the command java -version from the command prompt as explained above.

Step 3: Install Scala

You can download Scala from http://www.scala-lang.org/downloads. At the time of writing this tutorial, I downloaded ‘scala-2.11.5-installer.jar’. Make sure you have admin privilege to proceed. Now, execute the following command at the command prompt −

Platform	Command & Output	Description
Windows	\>java –jar scala-2.11.5-installer.jar\>	This command will display an installation wizard, which will guide you to install Scala on your windows machine. During installation, it will ask for license agreement, simply accept it and further it will ask a path where Scala will be installed. I selected default given path “C:\Program Files\Scala”, you can select a suitable path as per your convenience.
Linux	Command − $java –jar scala-2.9.0.1-installer.jar Output − Welcome to the installation of Scala 2.9.0.1! The homepage is at − http://Scala-lang.org/ press 1 to continue, 2 to quit, 3 to redisplay 1................................................ [ Starting to unpack ] [ Processing package: Software Package Installation (1/1) ] [ Unpacking finished ] [ Console installation done ]	During installation, it will ask for license agreement, to accept it type 1 and it will ask a path where Scala will be installed. I entered /usr/local/share, you can select a suitable path as per your convenience.

Finally, open a new command prompt and type Scala -version and press Enter. You should see the following −

Platform	Command	Output
Windows	\>scala -version	Scala code runner version 2.11.5 -- Copyright 2002-2013, LAMP/EPFL
Linux	$scala -version	Scala code runner version 2.9.0.1 – Copyright 2002-2013, LAMP/EPFL