This reader-friendly textbook presents a concise and easy to follow introduction to Scala. Scala is an ideal first programming language, which permits programming in multiple paradigms, and enables developers to be more productive with modern computing infrastructures such as distributed environments. Topics and features: Provides review questions and problem-solving exercises (with solutions) in each chapter, inspired by real-world applications Addresses each topic in a self-contained manner, highlighting how Scala can be evolved and grown according to the developer's needs Presents examples from a broad range of different application domains, including consumer electronics, online payment, retail, vehicle manufacturing, and healthcare Encourages an innovation-oriented mind-set, and the development of practical, saleable skills Draws from the author's extensive experience in industrial software development, academic research, and university teaching This accessible and hands-on guide will embolden professional software engineers to make the switch to Scala. Instructors teaching introductory programming courses will also find this textbook popular among their students. Bhim P. Upadhyaya is a certified enterprise architect, application architect, software engineer, Java and JEE developer, and big data and Scala enthusiast. In addition to his professional experience as a software architect working for over 15 companies in the USA, he has more than half a decade of university teaching and research experience, including research work at the world's largest (non-profit) organization, the United Nations. He has also served as a visiting scholar at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) in the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). He is the founder of EqualInformation, LLC (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a company that focuses on data synthesis and visualization, web application design and development, enterprise architecture, and integration solutions. He is also affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University - Silicon Valley (Moffett Field, CA, USA).