[socratic]

Would it be wrong to think of Scala and Clojure as the F# of the JVM?

I had been thinking of Scala as though it was Java++ (in analogy to C vs C++): a language that adds a few features on top of Java for better abstractions, but regular Java programmers can basically program Java in it (and read it as though it was Java). However, it seems like truly idiomatic Scala code involves heavy use of advanced functional and type system concepts that cannot simply be glossed over.

Will Scala and/or Clojure end up as languages in the JVM used by a small number of senior developers to be more efficient on particular problems (like F# on the CLR) rather than the next big language used by everyone (like C++ superseding C for most problems)? And, is that an accurate portrayal of how F# is currently being used?

[nickik]

I would say yes. From C to C++ you can use the same tools and everything. Java to Scala is still a new language.

[zem]

more likely scala than clojure - i think a lot of the clojure community are there for the language, and see the jvm as incidental (or even an annoyance). newbie questions on the clojure mailing list are divided between "new to fp" and "new to the jvm ecosystem", and the clojure-in-clojure (with an eye on eventually targeting multiple platforms with a core layer) project has a lot of excitement around it.