Scala is a strong statically typed general-purpose programming language that supports both object-oriented programming and functional programming. Designed to be concise, many of Scala's design decisions are aimed to address criticisms of Java. The name Scala is a portmanteau of scalable and language, signifying that it is designed to grow with the demands of its users.

Scala source code can be compiled to Java bytecode and run on a Java virtual machine (JVM). In addition, Scala provides language interoperability with Java so that libraries written in either language may be referenced directly in Scala or Java code. Like Java, Scala is object-oriented and uses a syntax termed curly-brace, similar to the language C. Since Scala 3, there is also an option to use the off-side rule (indenting) to structure blocks, and its use is advised. Martin Odersky has said that this turned out to be the most productive change introduced in Scala 3.