Programming Scala

Colophon

The animal on the cover of Programming Scala is a Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), also called an Asian tapir. It is a black-and-white hoofed mammal with a round, stocky body similar to that of a pig. At 6–8 feet long and 550–700 pounds, the Malayan is the largest of the four tapir species. It lives in tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia.

The Malayan tapir’s appearance is striking: its front half and hind legs are solid black, and its midsection is marked with a white saddle. This pattern provides perfect camouflage for the tapir in a moonlit jungle. Other physical characteristics include a thick hide, a stumpy tail, and a short, flexible snout. Despite its body shape, the Malayan tapir is an agile climber and a fast runner.

The tapir is a solitary and mainly nocturnal animal. It tends to have very poor vision, so it relies on smell and hearing as it roams large territories in search of food, tracking other tapirs’ scents and communicating via high-pitched whistles. The Malayan tapir’s predators are tigers, leopards, and humans, and it is considered endangered due to habitat destruction and overhunting.

The cover image is from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont’s TheSansMonoCondensed.