Groovy on Grails

Groovy on Grails is an Open Source, full-stack, web application framework for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It utilizes the Groovy programming language and prioritizes the convention-over-configuration abstract layer to provide a productive and stream-lined development experience.

Grails’ Object-Oriented programming language built on the Java platform, making it easy to integrate with Java libraries, frameworks and existing code bases. It is a dynamic language with features similar to those of Python, Ruby, Perl, and Smalltalk, while maintaining its Java familiarity. Groovy on Grails provides infrastructure code that development teams would normally have to write from scratch and offers transparent integration of classes which are mapped with the Hibernate ORM framework, meaning that existing applications that have implemented Hibernate can use Grails without recompiling the code or reconfiguring Hibernate. Many IDEs and text editors support Groovy: Eclipse, Emacs, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, TextMate, Sublime Text 2, JDeveloper, Xappworks, jEdit, Nodepad++ and others.

Most valid Java files are also valid Groovy files, as most Java code is also syntactically valid Groovy. Although the two languages are similar, Groovy code can be more compact, because it does not require all the elements that Java requires, which makes it possible for Java programmers to easily learn Groovy by starting with familiar Java syntax before acquiring more Groovy idioms. It can be used as a scripting language for the Java Platform, it is dynamically compiled to JVM bytecode, and interoperates with other Java code and libraries by utilizing Java-like curly-bracket syntax.

John Mullen, ScrumMaster of Sky, a leading entertainment company in UK, finds Grails very useful, boasting that it “is so much quicker and simpler to write code with, so we can get applications up and running faster…With Groovy and Grails we can create a new feature in a week, when before it could easily take a month or more.” It’s easy to find Java developers who can easily apply their experience to Grails’ new functionality, which will ultimately ignite productivity with ease and developers’ response to business needs.