Scala Terms

  • foo.asInstanceOf[Bar] is a type cast, which is primarily a runtime operation. It says that the compiler should be coerced into believing that foo is a Bar. This may result in an error (a ClassCastException) if and when foo is evaluated to be something other than a Bar at runtime.

  • foo:Bar is a type ascription, which is entirely a compile-time operation. This is giving the compiler assistance in understanding the meaning of your code, without forcing it to believe anything that could possibly be untrue; no runtime failures can result from the use of type ascriptions.

Type ascriptions can also be used to trigger implicit conversions. For instance, you could define the following implicit conversion:

implicit def foo(s:String):Int = s.length


A way to write functions with multiple parameter lists. For instance def f(x: Int)(y: Int) is a curried function with two parameter lists.