Lists are immutable in scala but then how can i do :: to a list to prepend a value in list?

Question
1

How can i do :: to prepend a value in scala even though list belongs to the scala.collection.immutable ?

Thank you !!

2

The prepend function for immutable List creates another (immutable) List
and returns it. Just assign this result to a new val if you need further
use.

For iterations you should use functional techniques like (tail)recursion or
map, flatMap and the like

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3

Immutability of old list actually helps in creating new list in constant time. The new list is just one new object with two members:

  • head - containing the element you’ve added
  • tail - pointing to the list you’re prepending element to

Other immutable structures often work in similar fashion - new structure contains new elements plus references to old structures. For more information read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_data_structure

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