theJavaJar.com

As day one of 2GX comes to a close I can honestly say that Groovy with Grails and it’s underlying technologies (Spring, Hibernate, Quartz…) is more impressive than I initially realized. Well, I knew what Spring and Hibernate could do but to see what Grails adds to the equation is incredible. Hearing it from the source is key. I mean it. Attend an event or training!

I sat in on 2 great sessions today; “DSL in Groovy” presented by Venkat Subramaniam and “The Grails Plug-in System: Plug into Productivity” presented by Graeme Rocher. What Groovy can do, blew my mind. Venkat really opened my eyes to the power of Groovy. I also underestimated what Grails is doing under the covers. Basically, if you know/understand how Spring and Hibernate make development easier, well think of Grails as another layer of abstraction that provides that same power in a much simpler format. Now, combine that power with a modular approach to development with plug-ins and a truly dynamic/agile language in Groovy. All I can say is that Groovy/Grails is turning the corner and not looking back, so don’t lose sight of what is out there. Once I get my ISP hosting situated, I will be deploying my first public Groovy/Grails application.

As far as 2GX, it is a great experience so far. I am really impressed with the No Fluff Just Stuff staff and what they have put together. Alright, hopefully I will have some more time to post my thoughts on day two in the evening.