[hopeless]

Oh, it looks like Xtend is to Java as Coffeescript is to Javascript. Although I'm sceptical about it compiling to Java source.

Java seems to be going through a period of experimentation, and alternative Java-like and JVM languages. Interesting times.

[DanielRibeiro]

It is also great for using with Android/GWT. Scala can be both used with Android[1] and GWT[2], but it is not a walk in the park.

It seems like a great gateway drug for Scala.

[1] https://github.com/danielribeiro/HelloScalaOnAndroid

[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3198154

[Dn_Ab]

I agree. I use Scala for a personal Android app. Once you get over the antbuild and proguard hurdle - agree its no walk in the park - its smooth sailing. Scala meshes well with the android libraries and is fast. Although it gets highly wonky if you need to add a library that is not a jar but instead a package.

The major downsides which are super troublesome are that it takes 2 minutes to build each time - even for trivial changes and I have to debug the old school way with messages.

[marcmarc]

You can speed up the build time a lot by preinstalling Scala on the phone or emulator. This will allow you to skip the Proguard step. Here's how you do it http://zegoggl.es/2011/07/how-to-preinstall-scala-on-your-an...

[lemming]

One of the nice things about compiling to Java source is that it allows you use it with GWT. The only downside that I can see is that there might be constructs that you can't express in Java that you would want in a new language (note that you're fine with ones that you can technically express in Java but are just ugly, like closures). There are probably not very many of them, though.

[DanielRibeiro]

Well, scala can be used with gwt: https://github.com/scalagwt

It was documented on scala, page, but now you have to use the google cache to see this: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wqqu7uQ...

[CarlSmotricz]

Exciting! Thanks for the link.

[bunderbunder]

I didn't notice any mention of taking care of the primitive/object divide. That would be high on my wish list.

[baddox]

From a quick scan of the Xtend page, it seems to be fairly backwards compatible with Java source code.

[bunderbunder]

It would be nice to at least have the option to compile to bytecode, but this is a good start. I'm hoping it was just a decision to get the language out there and drum up interest before taking on a bigger project, and a 'real' compiler is on the way.

This one in particular is interesting since it seems to be an attempt to catch up with some of the rapid development C# has made. The Java platform is great, but the language has visibly been allowed to grow moss lately.

[naveen99]

Legal JavaScript is legal coffeescript.

Is legal java legal xtend ?

Can we expect something like http://js2coffee.org

[tiles]

Sorry to be pedantic. In JavaScript:

    (function () { });

Would definitely not be valid CoffeeScript. Invalid keyword `function`.