Groovy is a dynamic programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It is designed to be concise, expressive, and flexible, with syntax that is similar to Java but with additional features inspired by languages like Python and Ruby. Groovy is often used as a scripting language for Java applications, as well as for building domain-specific languages and writing concise, readable code.
Groovy syntax is similar to Java, but with some key differences. For example, Groovy is dynamically typed, meaning that variable types are determined at runtime rather than compile time. Groovy also supports closures, which are blocks of code that can be passed around and executed at a later time. Additionally, Groovy has built-in support for lists, maps, and regular expressions, making it easy to work with complex data structures.
Here is an example of a simple "Hello, World!" program in Groovy:
def greeting = "Hello, World!"
println greeting
Developers working with Groovy typically use the Groovy language itself, along with tools like the Groovy Console, an interactive shell for running Groovy code, and the Groovy GDK (Groovy Development Kit), which provides additional libraries and utilities for working with Groovy. Groovy code can be compiled into Java bytecode using the Groovyc compiler, and integrated with existing Java codebases using tools like Gradle or Maven. IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse also provide support for Groovy development, with features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and debugging.