Groovy

It's taken me years, but I finally got over import java.util.*;. First, I don't use an IDE. I know an IDE could manage my imports, but I'm not an IDE guy. So, for years I've managed my imports manually, or given up and done import java.util.* and felt guilty about it. Well, I'm over that, and I can give Groovy the credit. By default Groovy imports java.util.*. I've been using Groovy every day now for about a year and a half and the house is still standing, our code compiles, we haven't had name conflicts. Things work, and it's a lot easier.

I used to worry about name clashes and compilation speed, and other shiboleths spoken of around coder camp fires and in hushed tones. After all everyone "knows" that the * should be avoided. Well, I'm over it, import java.util.* is just fine with me. Now when I start a Java source file I almost always just add java.util.*.

You can learn something every day. That's what is so nice about being a software developer.

Today I was looking at some Grails code, seeing how some of the metaprogramming features of Groovy are used in the framework. After poking around I decided to look at the ServicesGrailsPlugin to see how the automatic wiring of services was done, and ran across the following code:

def doWithSpring = {
  application.serviceClasses.each { serviceClass ->
      def scope = serviceClass.getPropertyValue("scope")

    "${serviceClass.fullName}ServiceClass"(MethodInvokingFactoryBean) {
      targetObject = ref("grailsApplication", true)

Although talk about multiple languages running on the JVM has grown over the past few years, the reality of it really hit home with me this morning. I turned to one of my employees who has been doing JVM development for me since April of last year. The interesting thing is probably 95% of the JVM work he has done isn't in Java, it's in Groovy. Here's to the multi-language Java platform and a thank you to those developers who are making it a reality.

January second's Daily Drucker dealt with the future, but not as most business prognosticators or futurists might. As Drucker states it, "The important thing is to identify the 'future that has already happened...'"

The action point for the day is to identifying those trends in our market that have already happened, write about their longevity and their effect on our life and organization.

Software as a Service For the Rest of Us

Over the past few years, and particularly in 2007 Software as a Service (Saas) has really broken out and has become a force in the software industry. The first large scale SaaS offering that really broke through to my consciousness was Salesforce.com, then for me came Basecamp from 37signals.com. Salesforce.com represented a high level enterprise offering, with a high level of complexity and expense. Basecamp brought software as a service home to us all.

Personal Life

Sylva and I got married on April 28. It's been a real whirl wind since then. We are expecting our first child on April 1, 2008. My time with Sylva is special and precious. I have a great partner, and look forward to raising a family together.

Overall business issues have dominated this year. I doubt that will be that case next year.

Business

It was a hard business year, but prospects for the future look good.

Quadran

Quadran has arrived. About 63,000 lines of Groovy, Java and JSP, with some XML files to wire it all together, and it's up and running. We turned on our first Quadran installation on December 5, 2007. This was the culmination of a process that began with an initial meeting in September of 2004, and the consummation of the development agreement in July of 2006.

On Tuesday, November 13 I will be presenting a training session at ApacheCon 2007 in Atlanta, GA, Using Groovy with Struts 2. Learn how to use Groovy with Struts 2. Topics covered will include: Integrating Groovy into the Struts 2 Maven archetype; implementing actions, and service beans in Groovy; using Spring to wire Groovy service beans and action classes; using dynamic Groovy actions that do not require a server restart; writing Data Access Objects in Groovy and using Spring based transaction support with Java Persistence API (JPA).

Groovy Works has been the benefactor of a lot of development this past week. With upgrades for better class caching, better utilization of the GroovyClassLoader, and integration with Groovy-1.1-beta-3-SNAPSHOT and Spring 2.

Google Code Project and SVN Access

I have moved Groovy Works to Google Code. To get the latest release please see the download section on Google.

Quick Start Directions

• Download the current release from Google Code.
• Unzip it in a directory: tar xfzv groovyworks-0.1.tar_.gz
• Change directory to the groovyworks-core directory: cd groovyworks-core
• Install the Groovy Works artifact with Maven: mvn install
• Change directory to the sample application: cd ../example-app
• Run the application with the Jetty plugin: mvn jetty:run
• Point your browser at http://localhost:8080/groovyworks/

To use the plugin in your Struts projects you'll need to remove the standard Struts Spring plugin. Groovy Works provides all of the functionality of the existing Spring plugin.

I received an email from ApacheCon today. They have accepted my Using Groovy with Struts 2 training session.

Using Groovy with Struts 2: A hands on half day training session. Learn how to use Groovy with Struts 2. Topics covered will include: Integrating Groovy into the Struts 2 Maven archetype; implementing actions, and service beans in Groovy; using Spring to wire Groovy service beans and action classes; using dynamic Groovy actions that do not require a server restart; writing Data Access Objects in Groovy and using Spring based transaction support with Java Persistence API (JPA).

I don't have scheduling information yet, but I believe it will either be on November 12 or 13. Stay tuned for more information.

I picked up a copy of The Definitive Guide to Grails this week. I'm most of the way through it, and I'm impressed. The Grails team has definitely done a lot of work. As a result I've started to dig into the code, and I'm getting a lot of ideas for Groovy Works.

Overall I highly recommend getting a copy of the book, whether you use Grails or not. It is well worth a look.

I'll post more thoughts when I finish the book.

What is Groovy Works?

Groovy Works is a marriage of the Groovy programming language, Struts 2 and the Spring Framework.

Using Groovy Works you can develop your "Java" web application and avoid time consuming re-deployments and re-starts. Using Spring's support for dynamic re-compilation of scripted beans you can simply code, save, test in your browser. No need for costly recompilation, package, deploy, restart cycles.

Right now Groovy Works exists as a Struts 2 Plug-in, and an example application. Groovy Works depends on Spring 2.0.3.