Difference between method and function in Scala

Question

I read Scala Functions (part of Another tour of Scala). In that post he stated:

Methods and functions are not the same thing

Answer 1

In Scala 2.13, unlike functions, methods can take/return

• type parameters (polymorphic methods)
• implicit parameters
• dependent types

However, these restrictions are lifted in dotty (Scala 3) by Polymorphic function types #4672, for example, dotty version 0.23.0-RC1 enables the following syntax

Type parameters

def fmet[T](x: List[T]) = x.map(e => (e, e))
val ffun = [T] => (x: List[T]) => x.map(e => (e, e))

Implicit parameters (context parameters)

def gmet[T](implicit num: Numeric[T]): T = num.zero
val gfun: [T] => Numeric[T] ?=> T = [T] => (using num: Numeric[T]) => num.zero

Dependent types

class A { class B }
def hmet(a: A): a.B = new a.B
val hfun: (a: A) => a.B = hmet

For more examples, see tests/run/polymorphic-functions.scala