Understanding the domain within which customers evolve is a key factor in the success of a project. From this domain and its wealth of concepts, as software developers and architects, we can derive a design that is aimed at solving problems encountered in the day-to-day business.
So far, we mostly solved these brainteasers with computer science paradigms like Object-Oriented Programming, n-tier architectures, or with tools such as rules engines to stay close to the domain at hand. However, with the advent of dynamic languages, a new era has come to let you create languages taylored to a given domain of knowledge, allowing you to share a common methaphore of understanding between developers and subject matter experts.
Groovy, the popular and successful dynamic language for the JVM, offers a lot of features that allow you to create embedded Domain-Specific Languages. Closures, metaprogramming, operator overloading, named arguments, a more concise and expressive syntax, are elements of Groovy you can take advantage of to create your own mini derived language.
The purpose of this presentation is to show how to write such DSLs in Groovy, discovering in turn those various techniques, with pratical and concrete examples taken from real-life projects leveraging Groovy DSLs.
Groovy, the brand-new language for the Java platform, brings to Java many of the features that have made Ruby popular. Groovy in Action is a comprehensive guide to Groovy programming, introducing Java developers to the new dynamic features that Groovy provides. To bring you Groovy in Action, Manning again went to the source by working with a team of expert authors including both members and the Manager of the Groovy Project team. The result is the true definitive guide to the new Groovy language.
Groovy in Action introduces Groovy by example, presenting lots of reusable code while explaining the underlying concepts. Java developers new to Groovy find a smooth transition into the dynamic programming world. Groovy experts gain a solid reference that challenges them to explore Groovy deeply and creatively.
Because Groovy is so new, most readers will be learning it from scratch. Groovy in Action quickly moves through the Groovy basics, including:
Readers are presented with rich and detailed examples illustrating Groovy's enhancements to Java, including
Groovy in Action then demonstrates how to Integrate Groovy with XML, and provides,
An additional bonus is a chapter dedicated to Grails, the Groovy Web Application Framework.
Early PDF chapters of Groovy in Action are available from the Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) at http://www.manning.com/koenig. As part of this program, readers can also discuss the early manuscript with the author and help shape the manuscript as it's being developed by joining the Author Forum.