# Groovy Weekly #49

> Get your weekly dose of Groovy & Grails updates: GGE conference highlights, Spring Boot 1.2 release, top articles, and key presentations.

Author: [Guillaume Laforge](https://glaforge.dev/) | Published: 2014-12-16 | Topics: groovy, groovy-weekly | Canonical: https://glaforge.dev/posts/2014/12/16/groovy-weekly-49/


This has been a super busy week, in particular with the 7th edition of the Groovy Grails eXchange conference in London. You’ll find lots of slides and videos already published online, so you won’t miss a beat! For instance don’t miss this talk from Shuichisan how [Groovy is used by Japan’s Rakuten mobile backend as a service platform at scale](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6107-developing-api-platform-in-groovy-at-ratuken)!

A special highlight in the articles section to Cédric’s article on [10 things your static language can’t do](http://melix.github.io/blog/2014/12/10-things-static-cant-do.html).

## Releases

*   A new version of the [Grooid template for Groovy on Android development](https://twitter.com/marioggar/status/544814985776734208)
*   [Spring Boot 1.2](https://spring.io/blog/2014/12/11/spring-boot-1-2-0-released) released
    
## Articles

*   Cédric Champeau lists [10 things your static language can't do](http://melix.github.io/blog/2014/12/10-things-static-cant-do.html)
*   [Using Groovy extension modules with the Gradle Shadow plugin](http://matthurne.com/blog/2014/using-groovy-extension-modules-with-gradle-shadow.html) by Matt Hurne
*   [Copying multiple directories in a single Gradle task with up-to-date checking](http://www.objectpartners.com/2014/12/11/copying-multiple-directories-in-a-single-gradle-task-with-up-to-date-checking/) by Craig Atkinson
    
## Groovy Grails eXchange Interviews

*   [Graeme Rocher interviewed about Grails](http://blog.skillsmatter.com/2014/12/15/while-its-compiling-skills-matter-interviews-graeme-rocher/)
*   [Guillaume Laforge interviewed about Groovy](http://blog.skillsmatter.com/2014/12/12/while-its-compiling-skills-matter-interviews-guillaume-laforge/)

## Presentations

*   Paul King discusses the [good parts of Groovy](http://fr.slideshare.net/paulk_asert/awesome-groovy) at YOW! 2014
*   All the [presentations of the Groovy Grails eXchange 2014](https://www.skillsmatter.com/conferences/1957-groovy-grails-exchange-2014#skillscasts) conference are being put online on the conference website (you need to be logged-in to view the videos)
*   Day one
    *   Guillaume Laforge's [Groovy update keynote](https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6047-what-s-up-in-the-groovy-world)
    *   Vladimír Oraný presented ["Feed you Grails karma"](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6075-feed-your-grails-karma)
    *   Peter Ledbrook presented [“Groovy for Java developers”](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/5485-groovy-for-java-developers)
    *   Shuichi Suzuki spoke about "[Developing API Platform in Groovy at Ratuken](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6107-developing-api-platform-in-groovy-at-ratuken)"
    *   Alvaro Sanchez-Mariscal on "[Stateless authentication for microservices](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6058-stateless-authentication-for-microservices)"
    *   Russel Winder on "[Spocktacular testing](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6081-spocktacular-testing)"
    *   Jeff Brown on "[Groovy AST Transformations And Type Checking Extensions](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6062-groovy-ast-transformations-and-type-checking-extensions)"
    *   Schalk Cronjé on “[Groovy VFS](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6049-groovy-vfs)”
    *   Guillaume Laforge on "[Behind the scenes of the new Groovy website and documentation](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6072-behind-the-scenes-the-new-groovy-website)"
    *   Markus Schlichting on "[Gradle: harder, better, stronger, faster](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6084-gradle-harder-better-stronger-faster)"
*   Day two
    *   Graeme Rocher's [Grails 3](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/4958-keynote-grails-three-point-zero-preview) keynote
    *   Guillaume Laforge on “[Groovy on Android](https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6073-groovy-and-android-a-winning-pair)” presentation
    *   Iván López on “[Grails and the real-time world](https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6074-grails-and-the-real-time-world#video)”
    *   Marcin Erdmann on “[Running an Open Source project](https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6064-running-an-open-source-project)”
    *   Jeff Brown on “[Restful Grails 2](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6063-restful-grails-2)”
    *   Marco Vermeulen on "[Micro Service Architecture with Spring Boot and Groovy](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6050-micro-service-architecture-with-spring-boot-and-groovy)"
    *   David Dawson on “[Forces on Groovy architecture](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6044-forces-on-groovy-architecture)”
    *   Guillaume Laforge on “[Groovy with Style](https://www.skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/4957-groovy-with-style)”
*   Slides from the Groovy Grails eXchange 2014 conference:
    *   Guillaume Laforge published his slides from the “[Groovy update](https://speakerdeck.com/glaforge/groovy-in-2014-and-beyond-groovy-grails-exchange-2014)” talk
    *   Guillaume Laforge published the slides of the "[Behind the Groovy website and documentation](https://speakerdeck.com/glaforge/behind-the-scenes-of-the-new-groovy-website-and-documentation)" presentation
    *   Guillaume Laforge's “[Groovy on Android](https://speakerdeck.com/glaforge/groovy-on-android-groovy-grails-exchange-2014)” slides
    *   Guillaume Laforge’s “[Groovy with style](https://speakerdeck.com/glaforge/groovy-with-style-groovy-grails-exchange-2014)” presentation
    *   Russel Winder published the slides of his ["Spocktacular testing"](https://twitter.com/russel_winder/status/543038550631915520) talk
    *   Vladimír Oraný published the slides of his "[Feed your Grails karma](http://fr.slideshare.net/vladimirorany/feed-your-grails-karma-ggx-2014)" talk
    *   Slides of "[Micro-service architecture with Spring Boot and Groovy](http://marcovermeulen.github.io/spring-boot-groovy-talk/#/)" by Marco Vermeulen

## News

*   The [new GR8Conf Europe website](http://gr8conf.eu/#/) is launched!
*   You can [vote for solving this regression on the support of IntelliJ IDEA for standard Groovy extension methods](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-130198)
*   Jacob Aae Mikkelsen’s [Grails Diary](http://grydeske.net/news/show/74) week 50
*   This [month in the Groovy Users of Minnesota](http://groovymn.tumblr.com/post/104760987832/this-month-in-gum)

## Mailing-lists

*   An ongoing mailing-list thread is wondering [what is the unique selling point of Groovy](http://groovy.329449.n5.nabble.com/The-single-USP-for-Groovy-td5721782.html). What's yours?
*   Another ongoing thread on the Groovy lists is a discussion on [what is Groovy's value proposition compared with Java 8](http://groovy.329449.n5.nabble.com/Groovy-Value-Proposition-Compared-with-Java-8-td5721855.html). What's your take on that?
*   Alain Stalder shares a [case story with Groovy and his Grengine Groovy-powered scripting solution](http://groovy.329449.n5.nabble.com/quot-Grey-quot-Sets-of-Groovy-Scripts-A-Case-Story-with-Groovy-and-Grengine-td5721936.html)

## Code snippets

*   An example of a [Beaker data scientist notebook using Groovy](http://sharing.beakernotebook.com/gist/anonymous/3fcbb2e8c0d67079d313)
*   Vladimír Oraný pushed online his [demo application of his "Feed Your Grails Karma"](https://github.com/musketyr/earls-list) Groovy Grails eXchange talk
    
## Tweets

*   Cédric Champeau thinks [Groovy's uniqueness is its runtime and compile-time capabilities](https://twitter.com/cedricchampeau/status/542996207854190593)
*   Craig Burke is making progress on his [Groovy document builder DSL](https://twitter.com/craigburke1/status/543064329533521921)
*   Luis Arias congratulates [Guillaume Laforge for his 11+ years on the Groovy](https://twitter.com/realkaaloo/status/543332004050530305) project! How time flies…
*   Mario García published a [Lazybones template for getting started with Groovy on Android development](https://twitter.com/marioggar/status/543358372477960192)
*   During Graeme Rocher's keynote at Groovy Grails eXchange, Marcin Erdmann notes that [Grails 3 will use Geb for functional tests by default](https://twitter.com/marcinerdmann/status/543343346081890304)
*   Schalk Cronjé draws the [main points of Guillaume Laforge's Groovy update](https://twitter.com/ysb33r/status/542988039606521856) presentation
*   [Spring Boot 1.1.10](https://twitter.com/gvmtool/status/542985840545529856) available on GVM
*   [Spring Boot 1.2](https://twitter.com/gvmtool/status/542971505278459904) available on GVM
*   Russel Winder notes [Groovy Macros will be re-scheduled to Groovy 2.5](https://twitter.com/russel_winder/status/542984966058311680) to gather further feedback and real use-cases
*   Danny Hyun did a quick photoshop montage of [Guillaume Laforge as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air](https://twitter.com/lspacewalker/status/542340712134868992), as Guillaume's transliteration name in English would be Will Smith!
*   Tomas Lin also reinterprets the [Fresh Prince of Bel Air family as the Groovy family](https://twitter.com/tomaslin/status/542348040552448000)
*   Sean Gilligan shows off a [screenshot of Groovy running on iOS](https://twitter.com/msgilligan/status/542606254405713920)
*   A nice list of useful and [interesting Gradle plugins to investigate](https://twitter.com/macg33zr/status/543046348153847808) and play with
*   Brian Johnsen believes the [Groovy core team have taken executable documentation to a new level](https://twitter.com/brianjohnsendk/status/543061487741595649)
*   Angel Ruiz believes [Groovy's executable documentation is how tech documentation should be done](https://twitter.com/aruizca/status/543188269605732352) these days
*   In [Ratpack 0.9.12, a type can implement Renderable](https://twitter.com/ratpackweb/status/543187563947651072) to make it renderable
*   Robert Fletcher notes that [Groovy method closures can be coerced to Guava functions](https://twitter.com/rfletcherEW/status/543108794150944768), or actually any functional interface where Java 8 lambdas would be expected
*   Russel Winder remarks that [Grails 3 will be able to both be a serious full stack web application framework and a lightweight microframework](https://twitter.com/russel_winder/status/543347767096410113)
*   Phil Webb counted 194 people who [voted for a Gradle "provided" scope](https://twitter.com/phillip_webb/status/543271226542522368)
*   "[The Java used on Android is out of the stone age](https://twitter.com/russel_winder/status/543356824947556353)", said Guillaume Laforge during his Groovy on Android talk, and Russel Winder thinks it's worse than that!
*   Russel Winder believes [Android needs Java 8, or developers can just use Groovy, and that's what the New York Times decided to do](https://twitter.com/russel_winder/status/543357338816888832) for its Android application
*   Another great feature of [Grails 3 is that it's coming integrated with tools that projects usually need: Gradle, Spock, Geb](https://twitter.com/mgdelacroix/status/543344032475533312)
*   Mario García is working on a new [Lazybone template for authoring AST transformations for Groovy on Android](https://twitter.com/marioggar/status/543394656726556672)
*   A [picture of the Grails team and the Groovy lead](https://twitter.com/lhotari/status/543488286229286912) at Groovy Grails eXchange 2014

## Events

*   [Venkat Subramaniam will be speaking at GrailsConf India](https://twitter.com/naresha_k/status/542982488658677760) on pleasure and perils of dynamic ecosystem
*   Read about the [sessions of GrailsConf India](http://grailsconf.in/sessions)
*   The [GR8Ladies have created a Meetup page](http://www.meetup.com/Gr8Ladies/) to get the latest news, upcoming event announcements, etc
*   You can watch the [pictures of Groovy Grails eXchange](https://skillsmatter.com/conferences/1957-groovy-grails-exchange-2014#photos) online
*   [GR8Conf US 2015](https://twitter.com/gr8confus/status/544522716897083392) will take place July 29th-31st