Groovy 1.0 has been released and is available for download from the project homepage. "Groovy is a dynamic language for the JVM that integrates seamlessly with the Java platform. It offers a Java-like syntax, with language features inspired by Smalltalk, Python or Ruby, and lets your reuse all your Java libraries and protect the investment you made in Java skills, tools or application servers. Groovy can be used for various purposes, from ad-hoc shell scripting leveraging Java APIs, to full-blown web applications built on Spring and Hibernate through the Grails web framework.
It can also be integrated very easily in your applications to externalize business logic, create Domain-Specific Languages, or to provide templating capabilities, and much more."
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Member since:2007-01-04
If you already know Java, Groovy is the most natural language to add scripting or dynamic features to your projects. The syntax is 95% Java + added features like dynamic/duck typing, closures, lots of syntatic sugar for handling lists, maps, loops, and all those features that Ruby and Python fans love.... except that's it's written in a Java syntax, using Java objects transparently, you have access to the full Java API and tons of third party Java libraries... it's all there for you to use.
Even if you hate Java, you should give Groovy a try, at least go to the web site and read the examples and see how comfortable it is to use.
In sum, Java lovers won't need to learn a whole new language to have "agile" features. Java haters, who hate Java's verbosity and pickyness, and the lots of boilerplate code (*) will love a Java-like language where all of that is taken away.
(*) because they never understood why all that is needed in real-life big projects with lots of programmers and strict requirements
Member since:
2005-07-07
BTW, I know python and ruby, and I experimented with jython and jruby for this but groovy was actually the quickest for me to figure out even though I did not know the language (and I know those others). It was the easiest for me to integrate into my existing java code.
How does groovy compares to jython? What makes groovy easier to use and integrate into existing java code? I'm wondering if it is worth taking some time to learn groovy or just stick with what I know (python).