Do I have to know groovy before learning grails?
Thank you!
+2
A:
If you are a Java programmer, there is almost no learning curve to Groovy. You can fall back to Java whenever you want. Just get started with grails, and you will learn Groovy as you go. Groovy just makes Java easer with list manipulation apis, closures, XML parsing, etc.
Langali
2009-09-21 00:59:41
For writing basic programs, the learning curve is very gentle for Groovy. But within a Grails context, it is not true that there is no learning curve. It is fairly straight-forward, but it will be hard to read examples or appreciate Grails if one goes with a Java style.That said, most Grails books have a 'starting with Groovy' section and that is all you need.
Michael Easter
2009-09-24 14:22:54
I there there is more learning curve to Grails itself than Groovy, coz Java developers are used to using a lot of configuration, and starting with Grails is a weird experience for most of them!
Langali
2009-09-24 15:22:59
+5
A:
Complete fluency with Groovy is nice, but not necessary. It's possible to begin with Grails without mastering Groovy.
"Grails In Action" has a nice one chapter intro to Groovy.
I think it's more important to have a foundation in Spring and Hibernate so you can tell what's going on.
duffymo
2009-09-21 01:12:19
+1
A:
I have a co-worker that started Grails withouth Groovy knowledge and learnt his way into the language, but he still wrote far less efficient and bloated grails code just by "falling back to Java", since learning Groovy is more than learning syntax.
Learning Groovy is about changing your programming habbits, and Grails is even more about that. So you should take a week of pure Groovy with "Groovy in Action" before starting "Grails in Action" or just visit the Groovy User Guide for what the differences are from the other languages.
Azder
2009-09-21 11:41:01
+1
A:
Groovy is very easy to pickup if you know java. If not, its slightly hard (but not much).
You can also learn grails along with groovy at the same time, as long as you know java and programming concepts in general (things like data structures (maps, linked lists etc), loops, recursion etc).
If you dont know any java, or have never programmed before, then i suggest you start at the basics http://groovy.codehaus.org/Beginners+Tutorial , or learn from a book first before starting with grails. Otherwise, certain shortcuts/idioms in groovy/grails may confuse you to no end.
Chii
2009-09-21 12:26:52