Groovy and Java: The Integration Story

Speaker: Scott Davis

Abstract:

I'm attracted to Groovy because of its spirit of inclusiveness. Because it extends my platform of choice, not replaces it -- include a single JAR in your classpath and you are Groovy-enabled. Because it offers full bidirectional integration with Java. Because it offers a nearly flat learning curve for experienced Java developers. Come see how you can use Groovy to augment your existing Java codebase.

We'll look at calling Groovy from Java. We'll look at calling Java from Groovy. We'll look at compiling Groovy code, JARring it up, and deploying it alongside Java. Groovy offers the same level of integration with Ant. We'll look at Ant tasks that allow you to include Groovy in your build process. Or maybe you'd prefer to use the Groovy AntBuilder and completely manage your build in code. The choice is yours. The important thing is Groovy works along side your familiar toolkit instead of forcing you to replace it.

Speakers bio:

Scott Davis is an author and independent consultant. He is passionate about open source solutions and agile development. He has worked on a variety of Java platforms, from J2EE to J2SE to J2ME (sometimes all on the same project). He is the co-author of JBoss At Work, quite possibly the world's first agile J2EE book. He is also responsible for several mapping books, including Google Maps API and GIS for Web Developers: Adding Where to Your Web Applications. Most recently, Scott became the Editor in Chief of aboutGroovy.com, a news and information website that tracks the latest developments in Groovy and Grails. Scott is a frequent presenter at national conferences (such as No Fluff, Just Stuff) and local user groups.

Real World Grails - Quick Overview

Grails is a fully integrated, modern Java web development stack. In a single zip file, it includes a web server (Jetty), a database (HSQLDB), a build system (GANT, a Groovy/Ant hybrid), a logging framework (Log4J), and a unit testing framework (JUnit). It also includes mainstream libraries like Spring for dependency injection, Hibernate for Object/Relational mapping, Quartz for scheduling, and SiteMesh for page layout. For Ajax, Grails allows you to choose between three major included technology stacks: Prototype/script.aculo.us, the Yahoo UI library, and Dojo. Coupling the power of these mainstream libraries with the ease-of-use that Groovy offers, you have an unprecedented collection of technologies that will have you up and running in record time.

Grails maximizes the strengths of these familiar Java libraries while minimizing the XML jockeying it usually takes to get them all to play nicely with one another. It brings "Convention over Configuration" to Java. It uses Groovy as the language to glue the pieces together, which means that experienced JEE developers can learn Groovy in the context of libraries that they are already familiar with.

It is no exaggeration to say that you will have your first Grails application up and running in minutes. But Grails is more than about a quick start. In this talk, we'll look at ways to move beyond the default configurations. We'll deploy a Grails app to an external Tomcat instance instead of the included Jetty server. We'll move from the default HSQLDB database to MySQL. We'll include external JARs to bring new functionality to the mix.