Add to a List in Scala – easy way

This is an important part of the Scala learning curve – dealing with Collections.

This is the quick and easy method for Java developers. The ‘Scala way’ is long winded and I will cover in another post.

For now, if you want to add to a list the easiest way is to use a ListBuffer, as I demonstrate here:

import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer
.

object AddToList extends App {
  
  val listBuffer = ListBuffer[String]()
  
  listBuffer += "john"
  listBuffer += "paul"
  listBuffer += "george"
  listBuffer += "ringo"
  
  listBuffer.foreach { name => {  
    println("My name is " + name)
  }}
}

Why? Because the out-of-the-box List in scala is immutable – you cannot add to it, and that is the scala way. So how to add to an immutable list? I’ll cover that soon.