title: scala: how to explicitly ask for an implicit conversion?
body: <p>Is there a way in scala to explicitly ask for an implicit conversion, or do I <em>have</em> to always define functions for that purpose?</p>
  
  <pre><code>import collection.JavaConversions._
  ...
  def toScalaCollections( v:Any ) : Any = {
    v match {
      case v2:java.lang.Map[Any] =&gt; v2.implicitly[ scala.collection.Map[Any] ]
      case v2:java.lang.Iterable[Any] =&gt; v2.implicitly[ scala.collection.Iterable[Any] ]
      ...
    } 
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there an operator like implicitly in the language?</p>
  
  <p>NB. clearly I can work around like by defining </p>
  
  <pre><code>import collection.JavaConversions._
  ...
  def toScalaCollections( v:Any ) : Any = {
    v match {
      case v2:java.lang.Map[Any] =&gt; toScalaMap(v2)
      case v2:java.lang.Iterable[Any] =&gt; toScalaList(v2)
      ...
    } 
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>my point is, is it possible to not to have to do this?</p>