This review might be considered 'jumping the gun' a bit since this book has not been officially released yet. Only the last chapter (Chapter 11) remains but honestly, even if that last chapter said "This chapter intentionally left blank", it would not adversely affect my review. I signed up for the MEAP program for this book after hearing Ken Kousen present some of this material at my local Java Users Group.
Contents
The book is broken into 3 parts:
- Part 1 - Up to speed with Groovy includes 3 chapters that discuss why adding Groovy to Java, Groovy examples and Code-level integration.
- Part 2 - Groovy Tools covers Build processes and Test Groovy and Java projects. These chapters in very handy and timely. While reading these chapters I was introducing Groovy into our Java project and the discussion on how to handle builds mixed with Java and Groovy resolved one of my outstanding questions. The next chapter helped answer other questions about how to handle testing in this 'mixed' environment.
- Part 3 - Groovy in the Real World covers integration with Spring, databases, SOAP and REST
This is also an Appendix that does a very high-level overview of the Groovy for the folks new to Groovy, without stepping on the toes of "Groovy In Action"
Pros:
- Great reference that hits all the high points like builds, testing, web services, Spring and databases
- Covers most of the scenarios that you will encounter when including Groovy to your Java projects
- Footnotes have a different context when reading Ken's book. For the most part, the footnotes in the book are there to:
- apologize for a bad joke or pun or
- explain a joke or reference from the earlier in the text
This is an excellent book for Java developers wanting to get started with Groovy. This books helps answer some of the possible nagging questions like "How do I handle the builds/compiles?" or "How do I test Java and Groovy code together?".
This book is a definite BUY, and I am still waiting on Chapter 11 - The Future.
