Embark on a comprehensive 3.5-hour Scala crash course led by a seasoned Scala veteran with over a decade of experience. Dive into the fundamentals of Scala programming, starting with an introduction to the language and its benefits. Set up your development environment, explore essential concepts like val, var, and def keywords, and master advanced topics such as higher-order functions, pattern matching, and algebraic data types. Learn about object-oriented programming in Scala, including classes, traits, and inheritance. Discover how to work with collections, use for comprehensions, and implement tail recursion. Gain insights into functional programming concepts and explore Scala's powerful features like implicits. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a solid foundation in Scala programming, preparing you for real-world application development.