Here at JavaOne there is a huge buzz about scripting languages. I just got out of the session called “Groovy, the Red Pill” by Scott Davis. Scott has been one of the most entertaining speakers here so far. The best part of this session was not that he was funny, but he really brought the audience along in the “day and life” of a Groovy developer.
I have always resisted scripting languages because I cling tightly to my strongly typed idioms, but he has actually convinced me to take a serious look at Groovy and the surrounding tools that are out there. His suggestion is to start gently by writing tests in Groovy and production code in Java. This way you have less risk as well as serving for a “Gateway Drug” and getting you hooked.
I am starting to like all the little shortcuts that it gives you. Let’s face it, when developing with Java you end up writing quite a bit of boiler plate code. It would be nice to not worry about it any more. I’ll keep you up to date on how my progress is going, stay tuned!
Thanks for the great session Scott!
Just wait till you read and/or manipulate XML with Groovy…
This alone makes it worthwhile
It was my pleasure. I think the Groovy’s strongest message is that you don’t have to throw away your Java skills (or source code) to get started. Keep us posted as you as you find new ways to mix Groovy in with your existing Java.
Cheers,
s