“Learning Spark” code examples are in Scala, Java, and Python and is an excellent book both for learning Spark and for showing just enough Scala to program Spark. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920028512.do <http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920028512.do>
Then compare the api for a Spark RDD and a Scala collection. Spark is Scala’s killer app as Martin Ordersky explains in this talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5h8d_ZyOs <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5h8d_ZyOs> Gary Struthers