Comments on: Why You Should Care About Groovy

By: haraakiri

haraakiri — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:08:50 +0000

Java code which uses Scanner, now it seems to throw unchecked exception on error rather than checked exceptions which is what Java programmers expect. Who closes the file? Does scanner does it? Why don't we write better groovy code using RAII, which is so better compared to java's finally

By: Rodrigo Asensio

Rodrigo Asensio — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:05:01 +0000

yeah, I think ignorance was the main misunderstanding here. But anyways, Groovy seems promising and must take his place as py does.

By: barneyb

barneyb — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:00:15 +0000

Tim,

Very nice! I had no idea that class existed.

By: Rodrigo Asensio

Rodrigo Asensio — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:52:45 +0000

agree with the Scanner sample

By: Tim Yates

Tim Yates — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:35:33 +0000

Your java example is a bit unfair, as I believe this would work equally:

String file = new Scanner( new File( "/path/to/file.txt" ) ).useDelimiter( "\\Z" ).next() ;

By: Thomas Messier

Thomas Messier — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:43:53 +0000

Excellent post! Thanks for passing on all this info. Can't wait to try the latest CFGroovy, haven't had time yet.

By: barneyb

barneyb — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:46:59 +0000

Sean,

The biggest barrier to entry coming from PHP is probably JVM integration. I've never used the Java integration stuff for PHP, so I don't know how good it is. After that it's really just learning the new syntax and idioms and how to best leverage each language for it's strengths. Of course, you can use Groovy as a standalone scripting language (think CLI-style PHP) as well, which can be quite handy.

By: barneyb

barneyb — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:44:05 +0000

bob, Ivo, and Rodrigo, First, my readership is primarily CFML and Flex developers, not Java developers. So it's not about "Groovy over Java", it's about "Java is a PITA but Grovoy is a nice halfway". I'm not going to get into a "Java is a PITA" argument, but I think we can all agree that coming from a a web scripting language (e.g., CFML), any sort of compilation and restarting is a significant downside. Leveraging some of the power of Java without paying the full "cost" (via scripting language X) is a huge win. Like all "check this out" posts, there is a certain amount of over-promoting the good and glossing over the bad. That said, none of your critiques are off base. Groovy is nothing more than Java library for scripting on the JVM, much akin to any other libraries that adds feature X, Y or Z.

By: Rodrigo Asensio

Rodrigo Asensio — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:49:04 +0000

The file printout sample that you did on java is not true, too many catchs. What about the groovy exception management ? It shows you're devoted to groovy.
But anyways, after my critic I will tell you I will start with groovy as a "on the fly" testing tool for my apps. I really want to learn it. Seems a really easy to learn scripting.

thanks for the article.
Regards

By: Ivo

Ivo — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:25:04 +0000

Comparisons like these are dishonest. As the Scala guys say: you could consider the Scala jar to be 'just another' Java library. In the same sense, Groovy is a library and behind that single line of Groovy is a *lot* of code. If you are going to compare Groovy to Java, a fair comparison would at least involve the 'regular' Java libraries, like Apache Commons IOUtils to read a file.