[MrMan]

This post may garner some down-vote for being non-rigorous, but I will offer my opinion on Scala so far. I accept it's good points readily enough when they are presented in list form, but when I read the language and try to reason in it, I just don't like it. Scala just doesn't feel like where I want to go. I do not want to embrace endless complexity in the form of hard-coded language features layered onto the language. XML literals instead of macros???? Please, I say. I have decided that Clojure will take the place in my dev life that Java and C# have occupied for the last 12 years. I hope that is the right decision.

[cageface]

I'd encourage you to give some actual Scala coding a try. It can look dauntingly complex in short snippets and people often showoff complex stunts with the type system but once you actually start coding it makes a lot more sense.

You really can start by writing Java-in-Scala and then gradually making use of the more advanced features as you need them.

Clojure is great too, of course, but I think Scala is much more likely to gain a foothold in the programming mainstream.

[thomaslangston]

I only have one complaint about Clojure. It is very unfortunately named. Closures, the programming construct, and Clojure are too similar sounding.

If I could rename Clojure and GIMP I'd do so in a heartbeat.

[cletus]

I actually like that both Clojure and Scala have names that otherwise don't mean something else. This unambiguity means you can more easily search for related pages and get more meaningful data out of Google Trends. Java will bring up some coffee references and the island in Indonesia. Python is, well, obvious. Just as two examples.

I'd much rather everything not also be something else.

GIMP is actually appropriate because AFAIC the program is completely crippled.

[a_strange_guy]

Scala is actually a really bad name for trying to google it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scala

[jmcqk6]

Actually, there is a digital signage platform named 'Scala.' At my workplace, this can cause endless confusion among non-technical people.

[jpeterson]

> Closures, the programming construct, and Clojure are too similar sounding.

They sound identical, in fact, when Clojure is pronounced properly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clojure