I plan to try some exploratory programming with Scala, e.g. loading some scala source files and call the functions defined in these source files interactively, maybe doing some plotting in the between.
I want to keep a scripting source file, and occasionally send some lines in it to the scala console using a short-cut such as Ctrl+Enter.
Which IDE supports scripting well?
The Scala plugin for Eclipse offers two different interpreters. One is the standard REPL, simply integrated within the IDE, the other one is the Run Selection Interpreter which may be very handy for the kind of experimentation you'd like to do, give it a try.
The Scala plugin for eclipse is the best out there .
With the Run Selection Interpreter you can achieve what you want :
An expression can be executed in the interpreter by selecting text in any Scala editor and either selecting the toolbar button (see screenshot) or by using the Ctrl+Shift+X key combination (Cmd+Shift+X on the Mac). The key combination can be changed by going to Keys -> Preferences and changing the binding for the command "Send Selection to Scala Interpreter"
In latest version of scala plugin for IntellJ Idea 11 (Nika EAP) scala console works much better. Read more in plugin blog http://blog.jetbrains.com/scala/2011/10/19/scala-language-console-nika-builds/
It is obligatory to mention emacs here. Can emacs do _? Yes, emacs can do that!
In all seriousness, though, you might want to google around for "scala mode emacs" and see what you can find.
