Groovy for Java Developers

Course Length - 4 Days

This course teaches experienced Java developers how to write programs in Groovy that simplify, enhance, and expand their existing systems.

Prerequisites

• A good knowledge of Java programming technique, including the Collections framework – A basic Java Programming course is good preparation.
• Understanding of SQL and JDBC for database access

Course Objectives

• Understand how dynamic languages differ from languages like Java or C#.
• Use Groovy control structures.
• Work with Groovy closures.
• Use Groovy builders to reduce complexity.
• Access databases using Groovy.
• Process XML files in Groovy.
• Write unit tests in Groovy.
• Access Java classes from Groovy, and vice versa.
• Build a simple web application using Grails.

Course Outline

Fundamentals

• Differences Between Groovy and Java
• Compiling and Executing Groovy
• Data Types and Optional Typing
• Writing Scripts
• Declaring Classes
• Overriding Operators and Type Coercion
• GDK: The Groovy Library
• Strings
• Regular Expressions

Collections

• Ranges
• Lists
• Maps
• Iterators
• Polymorphic Algorithms

Closures

• Declaring Closures
• Options for Calling Closures

Control Structures

• The "Groovy Truth"
• Conditionals
• Loops

Using Classes and Scripts

• Fields and Local Variables
• Methods and Operations
• Safe Dereferencing with ?.
• Organizing Classes in Packages
• Inheritance
• GroovyBeans
• Categories

Builders

• NodeBuilder
• MarkupBuilder
• SwingBuilder

Survey of the GDK

• Simplified File Access
• Templates
• Groovlets

Database Access

• Basic Operations
• DataSet Operations
• Groovy and ORMs

Unit Testing

• GroovyTestCase
• Unit-Testing Groovy
• Unit-Testing Java
• Code Coverage and Automation

Web Development with Grails

• The Grails Framework
• Creating Web Applications