The aim of this post is to present the simplest typeclass example. A typeclass is a kind of design pattern that allows to add behaviour to a class without extending it (i.e. non intrusively). Let's use the REPL :
A typeclass is just a regular scala trait
scala> trait Show[A] { def show(a: A) : String }
defined trait Show
Here is an instance of my typeclass for type Int
scala> implicit val IntShow = new Show[Int] { def show(i: Int) = s"'$i' is an int" }
IntShow: Show[Int] = $anon$1@14459d53
Last step : use the typeclass by passing it as an implicit parameter
scala> def f[A](a:A)(implicit s : Show[A]) = println(s.show(a)) f: [A](a: A)(implicit s: Show[A])Unit
Let's call it
scala> f(1) '1' is an int