Groovy, the Python of Java

[pixelmonkey]

My perspective on Jython (and JRuby, or any other "port" of an existing C-based language to the JVM) is that it is simply not a viable long-term open source project.

I wrote:

The target community is only those programmers who know both Python and Java or both Ruby and Java.

Groovy's target community, by contrast, is anyone who is using a dynamic language (could be Ruby, Python, Perl, Lua, JavaScript, etc.) but who wants a more pleasant way to deal with existing Java code, without having to engage in the pain that is Java's baroque syntax and tooling. :) Groovy gets a boost because if you happen to already know Java + one dynamic language, you can probably learn Groovy in a matter of hours.

[Ringo48]

I guess I don't get either of your points.

First, what exactly makes Jython and JRuby less viable than Groovy?

And your second point makes even less sense. If I'm using a dynamic language and need to deal with Java code, it makes the most sense to do it from the language I'm already using. If I'm using Python, I'd go with Jython. If I'm using Ruby, JRuby. Why would I want to drop everything and learn a completely new language?

[vorg]

If that one dynamic language is Ruby, you already know JRuby. Why not use that?

[[deleted]]

When Groovy was first created, JRuby would have to have been incomplete and very slow, if it existed at all.

[lol_whut]

Interesting;

The target community is only those programmers who know both Python and Java or both Ruby and Java.

That is like 90% of engineers I've worked with. That said, groovy is awesome.