Groovy is like Gravy, except that it has the “Groove” in it

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

My five year old daughter, Meredith, recently asked me what I was working on. “I’m just working on some Groovy stuff”, I responded. She then announced: “Groovy is like Gravy, except that it has the ‘Groove’ in it”.

Besides being an outright adorable thing to say, I’m surprised at the level of truth embedded in it. As my first year of using Groovy draws to a close, I can see that duality in Groovy.

Indeed, in the realm of Java, Groovy can act simply as “gravy”, innocuously living along side existing Java code, harmlessly lending closure support and providing more flexible syntax.

Then on the other hand there is the full-tilt “Groove” aspect of Groovy where you can use Metaprogramming to write DSLs, and generally change the way the language behaves at runtime.

This must be a pretty well-known sentiment, since Scott Davis gives two talks on Groovy along these lines: Groovy the Blue and Red Pill respectively.

Who knows? Perhaps Meredith has sat in on these talks. That would explain her sudden interest in Expandos…

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