Question

I wanted to create a web application. I thought of selecting Groovy or Grails. But I don’t know from where to start! To start with Groovy or Grails?

Answer 1

I’ve just been in the same situation.

With my last Java experiences dating back some 7 years, I tried to start with Grails directly using “The Definitive Guide to Grails“.

I went about 1/3rd thru and thought I understood enough to start out. But as soon as I started to hack I noticed I simply ran into too many errors that would take me hours to resolve, simply because of missing Groovy knowledge.

So I went and got myself “Groovy in Action” (a.k.a GinA). I studied the whole book and programmed each and every listing myself. As I didn’t focus on this task solely, it took me several weeks to complete the 600+ pages.

Then I went back to my Grails project and found that I had even forgotten the things I already had known from the first book.

In hindsight, I would go about the task like this:

Directly start your Grails project (I recommend you setup NetBeans SpringSource Tool Suite IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate as your IDE)

1. Work on it every day for about one
   hour
2. Learn ~50 pages in your
   preferred Groovy resource.
3. Learn ~20 pages in your preferred
   Grails resource.
4. Apply what you
   learned

Keep in mind that the current edition of Groovy in Action is dated 2007 and The Definitive Guide to Grails is dated 2009.

In both cases this is quite old, though almost all of the GinA examples still work.

The most important parts of the official Grails Framework Reference are written well structured in chapters, thus it will suite perfectly as your Grails resource.

The following combination would be my personal choice:

• Groovy: Groovy in Action, Second Edition as MEAP (Manning Early
  Access Program) ($34.99 or $49.99)
• Grails: The Grails Framework – Reference Documentation (free)

I’d love to hear about your success & subscribed to your questions as I might be able to help with some of your simpler ones.

Enjoy!