Scala Center offers Scala
ProductOperating Status: Currently Offered
Hybrid functional and object-oriented programming language on the JVM, stewarded by the Scala Center at EPFL.
Hybrid functional and object-oriented programming language on the JVM, stewarded by the Scala Center at EPFL.
Scala compiles to JVM, JavaScript, and Native targets from one language and reuses mature Java and JavaScript library ecosystems, which lowers adoption cost for teams already invested in those platforms.
The language is treated as critical open infrastructure: the Sovereign Tech Fund committed EUR 377,300 over two years in 2026 for security, maintenance, and developer-experience workstreams coordinated by the Scala Center.
Scala's design began in 2001 at EPFL's Programming Methods Laboratory, where Martin Odersky pursued a clean-sheet language combining object-oriented and functional programming after earlier work on Pizza, GJ, and Java generics. The first public release shipped on January 20, 2004.
The language's name is a portmanteau of scalable and language. In March 2016 Odersky created the Scala Center, a designated not-for-profit unit at EPFL, to steward the compiler, standard library, and tooling as an open-source foundation.
Scala 3.9, released September 2026, opens the new Long Term Support line succeeding Scala 3.3 LTS, giving conservative production users a supported baseline while the Scala Next line continues regular minor releases.
Ecosystem investment continued through 2026 with the sbt 2 release and a completed OSTIF and Quarkslab security audit of the Scala 3 compiler and standard library, with all findings fixed for the LTS and current branches.
Scala is free and open source under the Apache License 2.0, with no paid edition offered on the official site.
Development is funded through corporate membership, donations, and public-interest programs such as the Sovereign Tech Fund investment, rather than product pricing. Official learning materials are free, alongside paid third-party courses.
Scala is a hybrid functional and object-oriented programming language with strong static typing, available on JVM, JavaScript, and Native runtimes. Typical uses include server-side HTTP services, concurrent systems, big data processing with engines such as Apache Spark, and teaching.
The language interoperates with the Java and JavaScript library ecosystems and is distributed under the Apache License 2.0. The Scala Center at EPFL maintains the compiler, standard library, and core tooling.