Groovy

Groovy is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language for the Java platform. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and compiles to Java bytecode, enabling seamless interoperability with Java classes and libraries while offering a more concise and expressive syntax.

Groovy supports both dynamic typing and optional static typing. Developers can omit types for flexibility or use @CompileStatic and explicit type annotations for performance and compile-time checking. The language includes features such as closures, first-class functions, property accessors, builder-style syntax, and robust support for lists, maps, and ranges. Groovy also emphasizes metaprogramming and domain-specific languages (DSLs), enabling runtime method interception, dynamic method invocation, and AST transformations.

Code in Groovy can be written as scripts or as fully compiled classes. It is typically run through the Groovy compiler (groovyc) or executed in a scripting environment. The JVM foundation allows Groovy to reuse existing Java libraries and integrate with Java-based tooling, IDEs, and build systems.

The Groovy ecosystem encompasses several widely used projects and frameworks. Gradle uses Groovy for its build scripts, while Grails is a web application framework built on Groovy. Spock provides a testing framework for Groovy, and there are numerous libraries and DSLs crafted in Groovy to simplify tasks ranging from configuration to data processing.

Overall, Groovy aims to boost developer productivity on the Java platform by combining a flexible, expressive syntax with strong Java interoperability and a broad ecosystem of DSLs and frameworks.