--- title: Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will... description: Scala creator Martin Odersky discusses functional versus imperative programming, compares Rust, Zig, Go, Python, and Scala on memory safety, performance, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them | daily.dev og:description: Scala creator Martin Odersky discusses functional versus imperative programming, compares Rust, Zig, Go, Python, and Scala on memory safety, performance, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ge5akesW9.png og:image:alt: Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them **[The Developing Dev](https://daily.dev/sources/developingdev)** · 48 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Scala creator Martin Odersky discusses functional versus imperative programming, compares Rust, Zig, Go, Python, and Scala on memory safety, performance, and type systems, and explains the JVM bytecode model and why compilers are hard to build. He also shares the history of how Twitter adopted Scala and speculates on how AI-generated code will push programming languages toward stronger, capability-based type systems to safely constrain what AI agents can do. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is a capability in Scala's experimental type system and how does it prevent resources like files from leaking? A capability is a value, such as a file handle, that the type system tracks so it cannot escape a limited scope or be hidden inside a returned lambda or stream. If a function returns something holding a capability, its type must declare that fact, letting the compiler statically enforce that no capability leaks after code claims to be done with it. Martin Odersky describes this as an experimental Scala feature aimed at agentic AI safety, extending beyond memory safety to cover secrets, files, and API keys. _Developers exploring language-level safety for AI-generated code can follow capability research like this on daily.dev._ ### Why did Twitter originally choose Scala instead of Java for its backend? Twitter's engineers wanted a language closer to OCaml, which they liked but which did not run on the JVM, so they picked Scala because it resembled OCaml while still compiling to JVM bytecode, letting them satisfy investors who demanded a move off Ruby to something JVM-based like Java. Twitter was a roughly 25-person company at the time, and its adoption led many other startups coming from Ruby, PHP, and JavaScript to follow. _Anyone weighing JVM language choices for a growing startup can track these kinds of adoption stories on daily.dev._ ### Why does Rust guarantee memory safety while Zig and Nim do not? Rust achieved something no prior low-level systems language had: guaranteed memory safety without a garbage collector, enforced through its ownership and borrowing model checked at compile time. Zig, Nim, and C lack this guarantee and are considered not memory safe, according to Martin Odersky, though Rust's guarantees cover memory specifically and do not extend to broader concerns like read/write permissions or secret access. _Developers choosing between Rust and other systems languages can compare these safety trade-offs on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Will AI force code to evolve or make it extinct?](https://daily.dev/posts/will-ai-force-code-to-evolve-or-make-it-extinct--zwb63chyi) · The New Stack · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why care about programming languages](https://daily.dev/posts/why-care-about-programming-languages-1gwkcjiey) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust), [#functional-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/functional-programming), [#scala](https://daily.dev/tags/scala), [#type-systems](https://daily.dev/tags/type-systems) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T13:08:45.343Z","dateModified":"2026-08-31T13:09:12.611Z","description":"Scala creator Martin Odersky discusses functional versus imperative programming, compares Rust, Zig, Go, Python, and Scala on memory safety, performance, and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fc973dcdad068dd29efe2193d8e620c8?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fc973dcdad068dd29efe2193d8e620c8?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Developing Dev","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Developing Dev","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/c19307d4b9a74379871c33d6f72a6b10","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/developingdev"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"rust,functional-programming,scala,type-systems","timeRequired":"PT48M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Developing Dev","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/developingdev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages-and-how-ai-will-impact-them-ge5akesw9#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is a capability in Scala's experimental type system and how does it prevent resources like files from leaking?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A capability is a value, such as a file handle, that the type system tracks so it cannot escape a limited scope or be hidden inside a returned lambda or stream. If a function returns something holding a capability, its type must declare that fact, letting the compiler statically enforce that no capability leaks after code claims to be done with it. Martin Odersky describes this as an experimental Scala feature aimed at agentic AI safety, extending beyond memory safety to cover secrets, files, and API keys. Developers exploring language-level safety for AI-generated code can follow capability research like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Twitter originally choose Scala instead of Java for its backend?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Twitter's engineers wanted a language closer to OCaml, which they liked but which did not run on the JVM, so they picked Scala because it resembled OCaml while still compiling to JVM bytecode, letting them satisfy investors who demanded a move off Ruby to something JVM-based like Java. 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