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Groovy and Grails

Groovy and Grails

The collection of a comprehensive Groovy and Grails framework tutorial (Grails 3 and 4) based on the experience and research of this blog author

The collection of a comprehensive Groovy and Grails framework tutorial (Grails 3 and 4) based on the experience and research of this blog author. If you heard or use Ruby on Rails then Groovy on Grails is another name for this framework with the same simplification of use and learning.


What is Groovy?

Groovy is a simple programming language that simplified the complexity of Java programming language. It is run on the same JVM as Java. Groovy uses a curly-bracket syntax similar to Java's. Groovy supports closures, multiline strings, and expressions embedded in strings. Much of Groovy's power lies in its AST (Abstract syntax tree) transformations, triggered through annotations.


Why should I learn Groovy?

Because it's an easier than Java with the same robust and enterprise-class programming language. If you like to learn Java but worried about complexity or a lot of learning curves then Groovy is the best choice to learn. Groovy simplified the complexity in Java, almost a lot of Java with a long code can be done with just shorter Groovy code. For example, the loops using "For" keyword.

Java:

for(int i = 0; i <= 10; i++) {
  System.out.println(i);
}

Groovy:

for(i in 0..10) {
  println i
}

As you can see in the above example, Groovy has removed the complexity of Java coding styles.

Here they are the core features of Groovy Language:

  • Flat learning curve: Concise, readable and expressive syntax, easy to learn for Java developers
  • Smooth Java integration: Seamlessly and transparently integrates and interoperates with Java and any third-party libraries
  • Vibrant and rich ecosystem: Web development, reactive applications, concurrency / asynchronous / parallelism library, test frameworks, build tools, code analysis, GUI building
  • Powerful features: Closures, builders, runtime & compile-time meta-programming, functional programming, type inference, and static compilation
  • Domain-Specific Languages: Flexible & malleable syntax, advanced integration & customization mechanisms, to integrate readable business rules in your applications
  • Scripting and testing glue: Great for writing concise and maintainable tests, and for all your build and automation tasks


What is Grails Framework?

Grails is a powerful Groovy-based web application framework for the JVM built on top of Spring Boot. It uses convention-over-configuration, sensible defaults, opinionated APIs, and the Groovy language combine to make Grails easy to learn for Java developers. Its also seamlessly and transparently integrates and interoperates with Java, the JVM, and existing Java EE containers.


Why should I learn Grails Framework?

As we describe in the first paragraph that Grails Framework is similar to Ruby on Rails with the name Groovy on Grails. So, building a web application with an enterprise standard is really simple and easier than using plain Java. Almost all required plugin, libraries or modules that used in the Industry are ready for Grails Framework. By that, you can keep focused on the logic than thinking on how to create this and that because it's already done by the plugins, libraries or modules.

Here they are the core features of Grails Framework:

  • Flat learning curve: Convention-over-configuration, sensible defaults, opinionated APIs, and the Groovy language combine to make Grails easy to learn for Java developers.
  • On top of Spring Boot: Grails is built on top of Spring Boot and leverages Spring Boot's time-saving features, such as Spring-powered dependency injection.
  • Smooth Java Integration: Grails seamlessly and transparently integrates and interoperates with Java, the JVM, and existing Java EE containers.
  • Groovy-based: Apache Groovy is a language for the Java platform designed to enhance developers' productivity. It is an optionally-typed and dynamic language but with static-typing and static compilation capabilities.
  • Seamless GORM Integration: Grails seamlessly integrates with GORM, a data access toolkit that provides a rich set of APIs for accessing relational and non-relational data. GORM also includes implementations for Hibernate (SQL), MongoDB, Cassandra, and Neo4j.
  • REST APIs, React, Angular: With the use of application profiles, including React and Angular, Grails allows developers to build REST APIs or modern web applications with a JavaScript frontend.
  • Plugins: Developers can build plugins that extend and enhance Grails, or they can access existing plugins published by a vibrant plugin community.
  • View Technologies: Technologies such as GSP, JSON Views, and Markup Views help developers effortlessly generate HTML, JSON, and XML.
  • Asynchronous capabilities: The async features of Grails aim to simplify concurrent programming. Grails' features include the concept of Promises, a unified event model, and the use of RxJava to write reactive logic.
  • Open source: Grails is an Open Source Apache 2 License project.
  • Domain-specific languages: Grails relies on expressive domain-specific languages (DSLs) for validation, querying, markup rendering, and more.
  • IDE Supports: Developers can access support at any time via IDEs and text editors, such as Intellij IDEA, Eclipse, Sublime, and Textmate.

Tutorials of Groovy and Grails

Grails 4 Tutorial: Easy to Build CRUD Web Application How easy to build a simple create-read-update-delete (CRUD) web application using Grails 4 framework
Grails 4 Tutorial: Spring Security Core Login Example A comprehensive step by step Grails 4 tutorial on building login or authentication using Spring Security Core Plugin including example
Groovy Tutorial: Map Example Map is an essential feature in Groovy language which is extends the java.util.Map interface in Java that used for collection manipulation
Building CRUD Web Application using Grails 4 and MongoDB Easily A comprehensive step by step tutorial on building CRUD web application using Grails 4 and MongoDB easily
Grails 3 and Microsoft SQL Server: Building CRUD RESTful API A comprehensive step by step tutorial on build RESTful API Web Service using Grails 3 and Microsoft SQL Server
How to Build Grails 3, MongoDB and Vue.js CRUD Web Application Step by step tutorial on build Grails 3, MongoDB and Vue.js Profile CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) Web Application
Build Grails 3, MongoDB and React Profile CRUD Web Application Step by step tutorial on build Grails 3, MongoDB and React Profile CRUD Web Application.
Grails 3, MongoDB and REST API Profile CRUD Application Step by step tutorial of building CRUD REST API using Grails 3, MongoDB and REST-API profile in easy way.
Grails 3 Angular 5 Profile CRUD Web Application Example Step by step tutorial on how to build CRUD web application using Grails 3 Angular 5 profiles with the working example
How to Upload File to AWS S3 using Grails 3 and AWS SDK S3 Plugin Step by step tutorial on how to upload file to Amazon AWS S3 using Grails 3 and AWS SDK S3 Plugin.
How to Export Data to Excel File using Grails 3 and MongoDB Step by step tutorial on how to export data to excel file using Grails 3, MongoDB and Grails 3 Export Plugin.
Grails 3 Send Push Notification to iOS Apps using APNS Tutorial about how to send push notification to iOS apps directly using APNS (Apple Push Notification Service).
Grails 3 Sending Push Notification using FCM Tutorial of how to sending push notification using Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to Android and iOS apps.
Groovy: Add or Subtract Date Time Using TimeCategory The examples of using Groovy language for add and subtract date time using built in TimeCategory class.
Groovy: Generate UUID Examples A little examples of generating UUID using Groovy and run or executes Groovy codes online.
Import Data from Excel file using Grails 3 and Apache POI Simple and easy way to import data from Excel file using Grails 3 and Apache POI.
Grails 3 Send Email Example An example of sending email using Grails 3 and Mail Plugin with various mail configuration.
Securing REST API with Grails 3 and Spring Security Rest How to securing REST API with Grails 3, Spring Security Core and Spring Security Rest Plugin in quick and easy steps.
Step by Step Tutorial Grails 3 REST Web Service: Part 2 More deeply with Grails 3 RESTful Web Service with another way to create RESTful Web Service using Grails 3 URL Mappings.
Step by Step Tutorial Grails 3 REST Web Service: Part 1 Step by Step Tutorial Grails 3 REST Web Service with easy and simple way, this part 1 is basic RESTful from domain class.

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