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Groovy Programming language

A groovy language is an object oriented, scripting language specialized for the Java platform and is also dynamically compiled to Java virtual machine. It can also operate other regular Java codes and exclusive libraries. Groovy is known to be quite a dynamic language that has features similar to Python, Ruby Perl and Smalltalk. It operated on a curly bracket syntax pretty much similar to the original Java codes.

The very first version of Groovy was launched on 2nd January 2017 followed by a second version in July 2012. The latter included statistical compilation and offered type interference that showed comparable to Java. One of the latest versions, called the Groovy 2.4, was sponsored by Pivotal Software that ended early in 2015. Since then, Groovy schedules to follow a specific governance structure under the Apache Software Foundation.

History of Groovy language

The development of Groovy was originally posted by James Strachan on his blog in August 2003. In March next year, it was forwarded to the JSP and then accepted by ballot. Many other versions followed between 2004 to 2006. However, after the Java community Process, efforts of standardization were imbibed in the subsequent versions. Later on, version labelled {"1.0"} was launched on 2nd January 2007. Within another year, a final version which reflected many changes was released.

Special Features in Groovy language

The traditional java file or codes are automatically valid in Groovy files or codes. Even the thought both Java and Groovy closely resemble each other, the latter tends to be characteristically more compact than the former. It is due to the reason that groovy works on less number of elements than Java. This also makes it easier for beginners to learn this language. However, there are features which are native to Java and not available for the Groovy users. These being overloading of operators, syntax lists, associative arrays, expression and polymorphic iteration. The safe navigation operator which identifies null pointers isn't accessible in groovy.

The second version of groovy supports modularity of projects and large files, thus reducing the size of groovy libraries. Static compiling multi catch blocks along with continuous performance alterations encourage dynamic instruction.

Advantages of Groovy language

1. Groovy language has increased expressivity when compared to other languages.
2. The feature of dynamic typing makes it reliable.
3. The groovy language supports native association arrays and key value mapping.
4. String interpolation is also allowed in groovy.
5. Initiating regular expressions and functional extensions are closely considerable in groovy language.
6. Syntactic alterations, collection literals, property access and operator overloading along with null safe dereferencing are all available in the Groovy language.
7. Type inferences is a unique feature of Groovy computing.
8. All codes written in Java originally work quite efficiently with groovy as well.
9. Groovy is one of easiest languages to learn if you have some knowledge about Java.
10. Using groovy as a scripting language defines many advantages as it works with other compilers too.

Disadvantages of Groovy language

1. The earlier versions are slow compared to Java.
2. Optional typing is supported by groovy but it makes harder to identify mistakes due to that feature.
3. Documentation and libraries are not available in groovy.
4. The dynamic features require more processing at run time.
5. Keeping the compilation procedure simple, groovy does not work on a faster rate of execution.
6. Groovy is completely based on Java and hence, problems that arise with Java codes are all applicable in the case of groovy too.

Applications of Groovy language

1. Groovy is used as a numeric and static data analysis framework.
2. It is used by companies for cloud management systems.
3. Websites like LinkedIn and Sky.com use groovy for their subsystems and serving online media content.
4. Groovy has also used for all of the user defined mathematics in website's math crowd sourcing engine.
5. Start-ups use this language for scripting in their collaborative open source product.
6. Groovy language is used platforms of continuous integration by many multinational companies.
7. It is also used for open resource planning systems by few companies.

Groovy Programming code example

{`
className Greet {

 def name Greet(who) { name = who[0].toUpperCase() + who[1..-1] } def salute()

 {

 println "Hello $name!"

 }

 } 

g = new Greet('world') // create object 

g.salute() // output "Hello World!" 
`}

Features of Groovy language

• Easy learning curve
• Support for domain-specific languages
• Compact syntax
• Support for dynamic typing
• Powerful processing primitives
• Ease of Web application development
• Support for unit testing

Why should you learn Groovy language?

If you are working with Java, Groovy is a must-learn language for you. Also, that will also make it easier for you to pick up since all your java codes will work in groovy too. Groovy language is used by a number of websites in various tasks. If you want to work in the field of web designing, Groovy is one of the most important languages you should focus on. Even in the course of launching a start-up, you may need groovy language for many applications.