In functional programming, it is conventional to define the meaning of a function application using a computation model based on substitution. In Scala, the meaning of classes and objects are also defined using substitution model. Let’s assume that we have a class definition,

class C(x1; …; xm){ … def f(y1; …; yn) = b … }

• The formal parameters of the class are x1; …; xm.
• The class defines a method f with formal parameters y1; …; yn.

Then, the expression new C(v1; …; vm).f(w1; …; wn) is rewritten to

[w1/y1; …; wn/yn][v1/x1; …; vm/xm][new C(v1; …; vm)/this]b

• the substitution of the formal parameters y1; …; yn of the function f by the arguments w1; …; wn,
• the substitution of the formal parameters x1; …; xm of the class C by the class arguments v1; …; vm,
• the substitution of the self reference this by the value of the object new C(v1; …; vn)

Martin Odersky explained the evaluation of Scala classes and objects using this model in his lecture, Functional Programming Principles in Scala.