Scala is emerging as a popular choice for working with large datasets and frameworks such as Spark. This course focuses on functional programming construct fundamentals and moves to first class functions and higher order methods of collections.

Working with Big Data these days increasingly requires an understanding of functional programming constructs, because of how easily functional code can be distributed. In this course, Thinking Functionally in Scala, you will learn how to utilize the power of Scala's functional support, which is often hiding in plain sight. First, you will learn fundamental concepts such as the differences between statements and expressions. Next, you will start to grasp the full implications of first class functions. Finally, you will use higher order methods on collections to create chains of functional composition. When you're finished with this course, you will write clean, idiomatic Scala code that conforms to the functional paradigm, enabling you to harness the power of distributed computing to work with large datasets.