We'd like to announce availability of the first implementation of the
Scala programming language.  Scala smoothly integrates object-oriented
and functional programming. It is designed to express common
programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way.  Scala
introduces several innovative language constructs. For instance:

- Abstract types and mixin composition unify ideas from object and
 module systems.

- Pattern matching over class hierarchies unifies functional and
 object-oriented data access. It greatly simplifies the processing of
 XML trees.

- A flexible syntax and type system enables the construction of
 advanced libraries and new domain specific languages.

At the same time, Scala is compatible with Java.  Java libraries and
frameworks can be used without glue code or additional declarations.

The current implementation of Scala runs on Java VM. It requires JDK
1.4 and can run on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, and most other
operating systems. A .net version of Scala is currently under
development.

For further information and downloads, please visit:

   scala.epfl.ch

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Martin Odersky and the Scala team,
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL).