Next version of Groovy previewed

The Groovy developers have released a beta version of Groovy 1.7, the next version of the dynamic language for Java and the Java Virtual Machine. The beta release of the language includes initial support for anonymous inner classes and nested classes, extended support for annotations, an enhanced assert method, a viewer and builder for abstract syntax trees and a rewrite of the GroovyScriptEngine.

The extended support for annotations allows for the use of annotations within import sections, allowing the @grab annotation from Grape, the dependency resolver, to be used at the start of a file, rather than embedded within the code. The improved assert method gives more detailed and easier to read results when an assertion fails. According to the draft of the planned 1.7 changes the Groovy console now remembers its font and size preferences and there are improvements in SQL handing with new addBatch and withTransaction methods to support batch updates and transactions.

The Groovy developers also released a bug fix and minor enhancements release of Groovy 1.6, Groovy 1.6.4 and the SpringSource developers announced that the first pre-release of the next version of Eclipse Groovy Tools is now available for Eclipse 3.4.2 and 3.5. Both new versions of Groovy are available to download and are licensed under the Apache Licence 2.0.

See also:

• Grails and Groovy - The Dynamic Duo for Java

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