Difference between case class and case object?

Question

I am learning Scala and Akka and in my recent lookup for a solution, I found something like

 case class TotalTaxResult(taxAmount:Double)  case object TaxCalculationTimeout 

What is the difference between the two?

When should I use one over the other?

Answer 1

A case class can take arguments, so each instance of that case class can be different based on the values of it's arguments. A case object on the other hand does not take args in the constructor, so there can only be one instance of it (a singleton, like a regular scala object is).

If your message to your actor does not need any value differentiation, use a case object. For instance, if you had an actor that did some work, and you, from the outside, wanted to tell it to do work, then maybe you'd do something like this:

case object DoWork  ...  def receive = {   case DoWork =>       //do some work here } 

But if you wanted some variation in how the work is done, you might need to redefine your message like so:

case class DoWorkAfter(waitTime:Long)  ...  def receive = {   case class DoWorkAfter(time) =>     context.system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(time.milliseconds, self, DoWork)    case DoWork =>       //do some work here }