An introduction to Groovy language for Java developers

1. Groovy – An Introduction
Giri Pottepalem
Nov 20, 2013
www.cognitomedia.com

2. What we will cover today…
 What is Groovy?
 Why Groovy (when we have Java)?
 Installation and Integration with Java
 Tools
 Groovy for Java Eyes
 Resources
 Hands on, code examples etc.

3. What is Groovy?
 Agile and Dynamic Programming language for Java Platform
(JVM)
 Builds upon the strengths of Java Language
 Better, Lighter Java
 More readable, less verbose, less noisy than Java
 Brings in powerful modern programming features to Java,
inspired by languages like Python, Ruby and Smalltalk
 Backed by VMware
 Taken into core Spring technology stack of latest Spring Eco
System (http://spring.io/platform)

4. Why Groovy (when we have Java)?
 We are coding in 2013
 Many things around us have changed, but not Java
 Java evolved as a robust and matured platform, but language is still
1990s and started to show it’s age
 Polyglot Programming
 Productive language
 A flat learning curve for Java Developers
 Interoperates with Java seamlessly, compiles to java byte code
 Brings the Joy or Programming back to Java

5. Installation and Integration
Installation
 http://groovy.codehaus.org/ - Download, unzip
 Set env variable GROOVY_HOME
 Add %GROOVY_HOME%bin to PATH
Integration
 All you need is just one jar file for Java applications (groovy-all.jar)

6. Tools
 groovysh
 groovyconsole
 IDE plugins (Eclipse, IntelliJ)

7. Groovy for Java Eyes
 Optional Java features
 Semicolon, parenthesis, obvious scopes, return statement etc.
 Enhanced JDK classes
 GDK Classes
 Native Language support for Collections with consistent syntax like
Java arrays
 Groovy Beans
 Groovy truth
 Exception Handling
 Classes, Scripts, Constructors etc
 Operator overloading
 Convenient operators (?. , *. , ?: , << etc. )
 Annotations (@Log4j, @ToString etc.)

8. Resources
 http://groovy.codehaus.org/
 http://groovyblogs.org/
Books
….and there are even more

9. Let’s get some hands on

10. Let’s get some hands on