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Your Thoughts on the Groovy Scripting Language?
lelitsch asks: "Does anyone have first hand experience with Groovy?
I am just coming off implementing a Plone-based intranet CMS and got hooked on scripting languages and Python all over again. Since most of my projects in the near future are going to be in Java or have large Java components, I was wondering if it's time to trade Jython--which seems to be falling further behind the Python release cycle--for something else. Groovy sounds like a fun thing to look at, but it seems a bit new and thin. Also, what are other languages (JRuby and Rhino, for example) you have used to script in Java?"
Who cares if Jython is a little behind CPython if it already has all the features you need at this point? When I do work with CPython, I work from a relatively old edition of O'Reilly's Python in a Nutshell as reference, and find that the language at version 2.0 already does everything I need it to. While features added at 2.2 and 2.4 are undoubtedly useful for certain audiences, the language itself was complete for most purposes some time ago, and Jython should serve most people fine.
I think you always need a reason before you try something new and unproven. If it is an enterprise app, why? Is there a feature that Python et al. does not do? If you have no experience with it, and no good reason to switch - Why bother?
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I wanted to use Drools and Groovy a while back to set up the variable pricing for a tollway. But who on earth is going to put that kind of system in the hands of technology named Drools and Groovy? No one wants to sound like an idiot going to their boss to suggest using anything with those names. Digital started off as Digital Intergalatic Research but quickly realized that suits don't use products that they feel stupid saying. A pun here or there is ok but there is a limit and I think Groovy, no matter what the technical benefits, has stepped over that line and can never be taken seriously. At least the Java community for the most part has gotten over the coffee metaphors when naming new products.
A language doesn't have to be updated every 20 seconds to be good. If you started off working in JPython, I don't understand why you would switch it out for a less supported, and less developed language. Python has been kicking around for a while, enough time that they got most of the major kinks out long ago, so I don't think "falling behind in the development cycle" is as crucial as you might think it is. Why not stay with what works unless you specifically REQUIRE the new version's functionality? People are too quick to be trendy with languages...
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