Groovy.DSLs(from: beginner, to: expert) 2011 Edition

This talk examines how dynamic languages in general and Groovy in particular take us toward the goal of writing programs for a particular domain using phrases that look familiar to subject matter experts from that domain. Groovy, is a popular and successful dynamic language for the JVM. It offers many features that allow you to create embedded Domain Specific Languages(DSLs) including Closures, compile-time and run-time metaprogramming, command chain expressions, operator overloading, named arguments and other concise syntax conventions.

The talk highlights many of Groovy's DSL capabilities through numerous realistic examples. We'll give the example, explain the tricks used to implement the DSL, including any pros and cons as well as tackle the often forgotten but key aspects of readability vs complexity, testability, evolution, and the various considerations to keep in mind while designing DSLs.