17.12.2020 / By Daria Karasek

Announcing an exciting partnership with Ziverge. The time for Scala and ZIO is now.

Scala

Scalac and Ziverge have been partners and friends for a long time. We have sponsored events such as ZIO Hackaton, and Functional Scala. As Scalac we have delivered plenty of talks about ZIO at conferences and meetups such as Scale by the Bay, Functional World, and Functional Tricity. We have published a 1st ZIO ebook (now available on Amazon), we have opened plenty of PR’s to ZIO repositories, and started some projects in ZIO space on our own, such as Panopticon, ZIO Quickstart template, and ZIO-Akka integrations.

Last but not least, we are helping our clients implement ZIO in commercial projects – e.g. Fugo (previously PixelArt).

Today, Ziverge and Scalac are taking even bigger steps into a push towards a more functional world, a world where ZIO, and Scala are an important part of IT tech stacks of companies all around the globe. With Scala 3 around the corner, with the rise of microservices, and a bigger and bigger need for fast, reliable IT systems we are confident that this technology will shape the future. This partnership is about a joint vision of building advanced technology that simplifies, and empowers developers.

“Scala is at the core of all our projects. We believe in its expressiveness and correctness. There are many libraries out there but ZIO seems the most aligned with the values that stand behind Scala.”Mat Gren, iCEO of Scalac

“We’re passionate about using functional Scala to give businesses a competitive edge with fast, reliable, cloud-native systems. To realize this vision, we need partners who demonstrate a commitment to open source and who know their way around the rapidly growing ZIO ecosystem. I’ve known Scalac for years and worked with their engineers in the trenches on open source, and I believe that through this strategic partnership, we will accelerate the rate at which ZIO is becoming a competitive asset for technology-powered businesses around the world.”John De Goes, CEO of Ziverge

“In retrospect, this partnership was bound to happen. In January 2018 I contacted John about doing an internal Scalac hackathon focused on Scalaz 8. The short conversation went along the lines – “John, we’re doing an internal hackathon. What projects should we focus on?”, “Jakub, Scalaz-NIO needs some love”. And so we did. Now, two ZIO Hackathons and two Functional Scalas later, we’re announcing a partnership that will impact both the ZIO community and Scala in general. ”Jakub Czuchnowski, CTO of Scalac

Why Scala, and ZIO?

From the day Scalac was born, almost 7 years ago, our Founder Łukasz Kuczera has believed that Scala would have a big influence on the IT industry. Now, we see that plenty of companies, from small to big have invested heavily in Scala – e.g. Netflix, Tubi, Zalando, IOHK, and many others. Due to StackOverflow, Scala is used by 3.6% of developers and also promising, Scala is listed 13th on the list of most loved programming languages, with 53.2% of developers choosing it as a technology they are interested in and want to continue using, way more than Java (44.1.%). Scala is also listed as first on the list of languages that can secure the best salaries, and 6th on the list of languages that developers want to learn next. The future looks promising.

Scala has the most powerful type system on the JVM. Partially because of that, it’s viewed as a language with a relatively high barrier of entry. It’s also a very unopinionated and liberal language when it comes to structuring the code. That in turn has led to different programming styles that have emerged throughout the years. Java-like, Python-like and Haskell-like code haven’t helped developers move between codebases and catch up faster with the new styles. Scala however didn’t have its own unique way of doing things. Then came ZIO, a purely functional, type-safe, composable library for asynchronous, concurrent programming in Scala – lowering the barrier of entry significantly and showing how things can be done the Scala-way. In addition to all that, Scala 3 – which is meant to be released very shortly – is a more opinionated evolution of the language that will further secure Scala as a powerful and productive tool for developers. Ziverge and Scalac will work together supporting these initiatives through events and trainings to bring more and more qualified Scala/ZIO developers to the market.

Last, but not least – there was no reason for some companies to get themselves out of their comfort zone, and decide to migrate. Now, there is a big chance that this will change. Support for Java 8, which is used by 83% of companies using Java, will end in March 2022. Those companies will have to update to the newer version, or will switch to technologies like Scala, or Kotlin. It is our duty to evangelize Scala, and ZIO will help them make the right choice for years to come.

What this means for you

Scalac officially declares it will contribute to ZIO libraries, so they will be developed faster and will get better support,
Scalac will carry out Scala and ZIO trainings,
Scalac will publish content promoting the strengths of ZIO,
Ziverge and Scalac will co-organize conferences, and meetups to evangelize ZIO.

Daria Karasek

Marketing Hero at Scalac. I strongly believe in creating opportunities rather than waiting for them to come. As befits Scalac team member I'm a hard worker, I always try to do the right thing and have a lot of fun! I'm an awesome friend and content writer, in that order. When I'm out of the office, I love to cook delicious Italian food and play board games with my friends. #boardgamegeek