Reviving Groovy in Action

Some time ago, Dierk Koenig decided to write Groovy in Action, THE bible for learning the Groovy language and some libraries around it. The book was written for Groovy 1.0, and it was a great reference (I learned my first Groovy from that book), and though outdated, it still is a great book. Then, some years later, Groovy 1.5 came out. So it was time for an updated version of the Groovy in Action book, now the second edition. So, the musketeers got back together and investigated what the new features were, made some split who would write about what, and off they went. Only forgetting one small thing: this was not their only project on hand. So, sometimes the musketeers wrote some, sometimes they provided food for their family, sometimes they rested a bit. While time passed on, Groovy 1.6 came out. And even 1.7. And 1.8. And 1… well, 2.0 actually.

When Groovy 2.0 came out, not a lot of things had happend on the book. Sure, there were new some new chapters written, but there were also still 18 other chapters to write. So it was time for some Action. So, some time ago, just before a Grails Exchange far away, yours truly wrote Dierk, and with the famous words: “hee Dierk, what is going on with the book?”, was he invited in joining the musketeers. Ha, he thought, this is my chance on fame and fortune! So imagining the screaming fans, the fireworks, the rains of golden coins, I signed the contract with my blood, and joined the party. And what a party it was. It was more like a pack of brigands than the musketeers! Ohohoh, what had I signed up for? So, when the Grails Exchange really came, a chat with Guillaume was needed. So we did, after a great chat, some great ideas, and full of energy, we parted and… Nothing happened. All the things I had to do, for all the great ideas we had, I did nothing. Also I was to busy to get things going! But then, a voice from the sky came, which got us all by surprise. It was our great publisher, Manning, demanding progress. And he got it.

So, after almost one year of inactivity, a great motivation, and a lot of talks, we published a new version of the Groovy in Action MEAP! There’s an updated chapter on the GDK, created by yours truly! So no, the project is not dead. Really, trust us when we say we’re working hard, really hard, on finishing this great book! We’re all heavily motivated in delivering THE best book on Groovy, so no, the project is not dead, it was merely in hibernation, and yes, we will deliver this book. It will still take a bit of work, but another chapter is just finished (another one by me, this time about Groovy and Testing), with features about Spock, Gradle and many other improvements, and other chapters will follow soon. So keep spamming the forums, keep spamming the authors, keep us sharp, and shout your interested. We will deliver!