What is the difference between "def" and "val" to define a function

Question

What is the difference between:

def even: Int => Boolean = _ % 2 == 0

and

val even: Int => Boolean = _ % 2 == 0

Both can be called like even(10).

Answer 1

Method def even evaluates on call and creates new function every time (new instance of Function1).

def even: Int => Boolean = _ % 2 == 0
even eq even
//Boolean = false

val even: Int => Boolean = _ % 2 == 0
even eq even
//Boolean = true

With def you can get new function on every call:

val test: () => Int = {
  val r = util.Random.nextInt
  () => r
}

test()
// Int = -1049057402
test()
// Int = -1049057402 - same result

def test: () => Int = {
  val r = util.Random.nextInt
  () => r
}

test()
// Int = -240885810
test()
// Int = -1002157461 - new result

val evaluates when defined, def - when called:

scala> val even: Int => Boolean = ???
scala.NotImplementedError: an implementation is missing

scala> def even: Int => Boolean = ???
even: Int => Boolean

scala> even
scala.NotImplementedError: an implementation is missing

Note that there is a third option: lazy val.

It evaluates when called the first time:

scala> lazy val even: Int => Boolean = ???
even: Int => Boolean = <lazy>

scala> even
scala.NotImplementedError: an implementation is missing

But returns the same result (in this case same instance of FunctionN) every time:

lazy val even: Int => Boolean = _ % 2 == 0
even eq even
//Boolean = true

lazy val test: () => Int = {
  val r = util.Random.nextInt
  () => r
}

test()
// Int = -1068569869
test()
// Int = -1068569869 - same result

Performance

val evaluates when defined.

def evaluates on every call, so performance could be worse than val for multiple calls. You'll get the same performance with a single call. And with no calls you'll get no overhead from def, so you can define it even if you will not use it in some branches.

With a lazy val you'll get a lazy evaluation: you can define it even if you will not use it in some branches, and it evaluates once or never, but you'll get a little overhead from double check locking on every access to your lazy val.

As @SargeBorsch noted you could define method, and this is the fastest option:

def even(i: Int): Boolean = i % 2 == 0

But if you need a function (not method) for function composition or for higher order functions (like filter(even)) compiler will generate a function from your method every time you are using it as function, so performance could be slightly worse than with val.

With java 8+ lambda optimisations converting method to function is a cheap operation.

Answer 2

Consider this:

scala> def even: (Int => Boolean) = {
             println("def"); 
             (x => x % 2 == 0)
       }
even: Int => Boolean

scala> val even2: (Int => Boolean) = {
             println("val");
             (x => x % 2 == 0)
       }
val //gets printed while declaration. line-4
even2: Int => Boolean = <function1>

scala> even(1)
def
res9: Boolean = false

scala> even2(1)
res10: Boolean = false

Do you see the difference? In short:

def: For every call to even, it calls the body of the even method again. But with even2 i.e. val, the function is initialized only once while declaration (and hence it prints val at line 4 and never again) and the same output is used each time it accessed. For example try doing this:

scala> import scala.util.Random
import scala.util.Random

scala> val x = { Random.nextInt }
x: Int = -1307706866

scala> x
res0: Int = -1307706866

scala> x
res1: Int = -1307706866

When x is initialized, the value returned by Random.nextInt is set as the final value of x. Next time x is used again, it will always return the same value.

You can also lazily initialize x. i.e. first time it is used it is initialized and not while declaration. For example:

scala> lazy val y = { Random.nextInt }
y: Int = <lazy>

scala> y
res4: Int = 323930673

scala> y
res5: Int = 323930673

Answer 3

See this:

  var x = 2 // using var as I need to change it to 3 later
  val sq = x*x // evaluates right now
  x = 3 // no effect! sq is already evaluated
  println(sq)

Surprisingly, this will print 4 and not 9! val (even var) is evaluated immediately and assigned.
Now change val to def.. it will print 9! Def is a function call.. it will evaluate each time it is called.

Answer 4

val i.e. "sq" is by Scala definition is fixed. It is evaluated right at the time of declaration, you can't change later. In other examples, where even2 also val, but it declared with function signature i.e. "(Int => Boolean)", so it is not Int type. It is a function and it's value is set by following expression

   {
         println("val");
         (x => x % 2 == 0)
   }

As per Scala val property, you can't assign another function to even2, same rule as sq.

About why calling eval2 val function not printing "val" again and again ?

Orig code:

val even2: (Int => Boolean) = {
             println("val");
             (x => x % 2 == 0)
       }

We know, in Scala last statement of above kind of expression (inside { .. }) is actually return to the left hand side. So you end up setting even2 to "x => x % 2 == 0" function, which matches with the type you declared for even2 val type i.e. (Int => Boolean), so compiler is happy. Now even2 only points to "(x => x % 2 == 0)" function (not any other statement before i.e. println("val") etc. Invoking event2 with different parameters will actually invoke "(x => x % 2 == 0)" code, as only that is saved with event2.

scala> even2(2)
res7: Boolean = true

scala> even2(3)
res8: Boolean = false

Just to clarify this more, following is different version of the code.

scala> val even2: (Int => Boolean) = {
     |              println("val");
     |              (x => { 
     |               println("inside final fn")
     |               x % 2 == 0
     |             })
     |        }

What will happen ? here we see "inside final fn" printed again and again, when you call even2().

scala> even2(3)
inside final fn
res9: Boolean = false

scala> even2(2)
inside final fn
res10: Boolean = true

scala> 

Answer 5

Executing a definition such as def x = e will not evaluate the expression e. In- stead e is evaluated whenever x is invoked.

Alternatively, Scala offers a value definition val x = e,which does evaluate the right-hand-side as part of the evaluation of the definition. If x is then used subsequently, it is immediately replaced by the pre-computed value of e, so that the expression need not be evaluated again.

Answer 6

also, Val is a by value evaluation. Which means the right-hand side expression is evaluated during definition. Where Def is by name evaluation. It will not evaluate until it's used.

Answer 7

In addition to the above helpful replies, my findings are:

def test1: Int => Int = {
x => x
}
--test1: test1[] => Int => Int

def test2(): Int => Int = {
x => x+1
}
--test2: test2[]() => Int => Int

def test3(): Int = 4
--test3: test3[]() => Int

The above shows that “def” is a method (with zero argument parameters) that returns another function "Int => Int” when invoked.

The conversion of methods to functions is well explained here: https://tpolecat.github.io/2014/06/09/methods-functions.html

Answer 8

In REPL,

scala> def even: Int => Boolean = { _% 2 == 0 }
even: Int => Boolean

scala> val even: Int => Boolean = { _% 2 == 0 }
even: Int => Boolean = $$Lambda$1157/1017502292@57a0aeb8

def means call-by-name, evaluated on demand

val means call-by-value, evaluated while initialization

Answer 9

Note: There are different types of functions in Scala: abstract, concrete, anonymous, high order, pure, impure etc...

Explaining val function:

A val function in Scala is a complete object. There are traits in Scala to represent functions with various numbers of arguments: Function0, Function1, Function2, etc. As an instance of a class that implements one of these traits, a function object has methods. One of these methods is the apply method, which contains the code that implements the body of the function.

When we create a variable whose value is a function object and we then reference that variable followed by parentheses, that gets converted into a call to the apply method of the function object.

Explaining Method i.e def:

Methods in Scala are not values, but functions are.

A Scala method, as in Java, is a part of a class. It has a name, a signature, optionally some annotations, and some bytecode.

The implementation of a method is an ordered sequence of statements that produces a value that must be compatible with its return type.