val and object inside a scala class?

Question

What is the difference between declaring a field as val, lazy val and object inside a scala class, as in the following snippet:

class A

class B {
  val a1 = new A      { def foo = 1 }
  object a2 extends A { def foo = 1 }
  lazy val a3 = new A { def foo = 1 }
}

Answer 1

I suppose one difference is that a1 will be of one subtype of A while a2 will be of another subtype of A namely a2.type.

scala> class A
defined class A

scala> val a1 = new A {def foo = 1}
a1: A{def foo: Int} = $anon$1@a9db0e2

scala> object a2 extends A {def foo = 1}
defined module a2

scala> a1
res0: A{def foo: Int} = $anon$1@a9db0e2

scala> a2
res1: a2.type = a2$@5b25d568

scala> 

Answer 2

In the former, any code included is executed as soon as class B is created. In the latter, however, until you actually use the object, it won't be instantiated.

You can see the difference here:

class A { println("Creating a new A") }
class B {
  val a1 = new A { println("a1"); def foo = 1 }
  object a2 extends A { println("a2"); def foo = 1 }
}

scala> val b = new B
Creating a new A
a1
b: B = B@1176e8a

scala> b.a2.foo
Creating a new A
a2
res0: Int = 1

There are also hidden differences in what the created .class files are named and such; and of course the two have different types.

Answer 3

One major difference is that val's can be overriden while objects can't.

class C extends B {                           
  override val a1 = new A { def foo = 2 }     
  override object a2 extends A { def foo = 2 }
}

leads to:

<console>:9: error: overriding object a2 in class B of type object C.this.a2;
object a2 cannot be used here - classes and objects cannot be overridden
override object a2 extends A { def foo = 2 }