Setting up a local development environment has traditionally been the Achilles’ heel of native software development—even in sophisticated technical organizations, getting a large C++ project to compile on a new developer’s machine can take days of work. Fortunately, getting up and running with Scala Native isn’t quite as challenging, even among different operating systems and all the subtle differences between machines. Scala Native has fewer dependencies than most C++ projects, and the instructions for getting Mac OS X or Linux systems set up properly are straightforward. However, if you want to sidestep the environment setup problem entirely (or if you’re using Windows OS), the easiest way to get up and running quickly is to use Docker containers.
In this Appendix, I’ll first run through instructions for getting Scala Native set up on Mac OS X. I’ll then explore using containers, which may be the best course of action for everyone.
Whichever way you go, don’t forget that there’s also a community chat room for the book on Gitter,[66] where you can get help and connect with other readers.