Type Classes and Implicits

In Scala, polymorphism means writing code that works with different types. You've seen subtyping polymorphism with inheritance, where a method works for a base class and all its subclasses.

Ad-hoc polymorphism is different. It allows a single function to behave differently based on the specific type it's given, even if those types aren't related by inheritance. This is where Type Classes shine!

A Type Class is a design pattern that provides a way to add new behavior to existing types without modifying them, and without using inheritance.

• It defines a contract (a trait) for a specific behavior.
• It provides 'instances' (objects) that implement this contract for different types.
• It uses Scala's implicit mechanism to automatically bring the right behavior into scope.