Apache Maven 3 Cookbook

Chapter 7
Integrating Groovy development with Maven
Groovy, which is an object-oriented programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM),
provides dynamic programming features similar to Python, Ruby, Smalltalk, and so on. It is
often used as a scripting language and interacts freely with existing Java code and libraries.
Groovy was created by James Strachan and Bob McWhirter and is currently being lead by
Guillaume Laforge. It is released under the Apache License v2.0.
Groovy is defined as an agile and dynamic programming/scripting language built for the Java
Virtual Machine. While it is inspired by Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk; for a Java developer it
promises an "almost-zero" learning curve.
In the past few years, Groovy has become popular for scripting and DSLs (Domain Specific
Languages) in addition to its use in application development. In an application development
environment, Groovy enhances developer productivity by reducing scaffolding code while
providing built-in capability for unit and mock testing.
Groovy is based on the JVM and thus interoperates with existing Java-based infrastructure,
libraries, and frameworks.
You can find more information on the official Groovy website
http://groovy.codehaus.org/.
Getting ready
Apache Maven needs to be installed and set up along with JDK. Apache Maven 3+ and JDK
1.6+ are recommended. The Groovy setup is not required as the dependency is taken care of
by Maven.
How to do it...
Generate the Groovy project archetype:
$ mvn archetype:generate
This will show a list of available archetypes in which you need to select the archetype for
a basic Groovy project, which is gmaven-archetype-basic. Maven interactive mode
will also ask you for the archetype version, groupId, artifactId, and other Maven
project co-ordinates.
153