Spark 02: Scala Cheat Sheet for Java Developers

This article introduces Scala to those Java developers who don't know Scala. I assume here that you already know Java (preferably Java 8) so that you can compare the features of Scala with Java. Please be informed that this article is not an end to end Scala tutorial. I am covering only the fundamentals of Scala which are used in my Apache Spark tutorials.

First of all, remember that Scala is a JVM based language which is running on top of your regular Java Virtual Machine. The whole purpose of Scala is providing a convenient functional programming language (at that time Java 8 wasn't there). However since Scala is built on top of Java, you can access Java libraries and API from your Scala code.

To play with Scala, please setup Scala on IntelliJ IDEA or install a command line Scala version in your system.

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Spark 01: Movie Rating Counter

Apache Spark is a must to know framework for big data developers. This is an attempt to write a series of articles on Apache Spark to train you from zero to hero. In this series of articles, I will use the latest Apache Spark release which is 2.4.0 as of 2019 January. In the first few articles, we will code and test Apache Spark on IntelliJ Idea. As you may already know, Apache Spark is developed using Scala and of course, there are APIs available for other languages including Java and Python. Still, Scala has preferred over other languages for its performance and compact code. Therefore, you need to prepare the environment first.

My articles will be based on Frank Kane's course on Udemy: Apache Spark 2 with Scala - Hands On with Big Data! I highly recommend his tutorial if you prefer for a video tutorial.

Setup the Environment

Apache Spark 2.4.0 depends on Scala 2.12 which in turn depends on Java 1.8. Scala is unlike Java not very version compatible language. Therefore, please take special care on choosing versions.

Step 1:

Install Oracle Java Development Kit 1.8 on your system. Linux users can follow this article: Install Oracle JDK 8 on Linux

Step 2:

Install the latest IntelliJ IDEA. Again, Linux users can follow my article: Install IntelliJ IDEA on Linux

Step 3:
Install Scala plugin in IntelliJ IDEA. Regardless of your operating system, you can follow the article Setup Scala on IntelliJ IDEA.

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Android: Custom Font in Kotlin

Sometimes you may want to use custom font in your Android application for aesthetic requirement or to show a message in a different language. I have already written an article on how to use a Custom Font in Android four years ago. Since it has been a long time and a reader wondered if that code still works, I am writing this new article using Kotlin. However, the underlying technique hasn't change over the years and you can still use my previous article.

Step 1:

Create an Android application "Custom Font" with Kotlin support.

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