abstract class RDD[T: ClassTag](
    @transient private var _sc: SparkContext,
    @transient private var deps: Seq[Dependency[_]]
  ) extends Serializable with Logging {
///...

  // Transformations (return a new RDD)

  /**
   * Return a new RDD by applying a function to all elements of this RDD.
   */
  def map[U: ClassTag](f: T => U): RDD[U] = withScope {
    val cleanF = sc.clean(f)
    new MapPartitionsRDD[U, T](this, (context, pid, iter) => iter.map(cleanF))
  }

  /**
   *  Return a new RDD by first applying a function to all elements of this
   *  RDD, and then flattening the results.
   */
  def flatMap[U: ClassTag](f: T => TraversableOnce[U]): RDD[U] = withScope {
    val cleanF = sc.clean(f)
    new MapPartitionsRDD[U, T](this, (context, pid, iter) => iter.flatMap(cleanF))
  }

  /**
   * Return a new RDD containing only the elements that satisfy a predicate.
   */
  def filter(f: T => Boolean): RDD[T] = withScope {
    val cleanF = sc.clean(f)
    new MapPartitionsRDD[T, T](
      this,
      (context, pid, iter) => iter.filter(cleanF),
      preservesPartitioning = true)
  }

  /**
   * Return a new RDD containing the distinct elements in this RDD.
   */
  def distinct(numPartitions: Int)(implicit ord: Ordering[T] = null): RDD[T] = withScope {
    map(x => (x, null)).reduceByKey((x, y) => x, numPartitions).map(_._1)
  }

  /**
   * Return a new RDD containing the distinct elements in this RDD.
   */
  def distinct(): RDD[T] = withScope {
    distinct(partitions.length)
  }

/////////...