The Definitive Guide to Grails (Expert's Voice in Web Development) [Paperback]

Graeme Rocher (Author), Jeff Brown (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590599950 | ISBN-13: 978-1590599952 | Publication Date: January 14, 2009 | Edition: 2nd ed. 2009. Corr. 2nd printing

Java professionals long the productivity gains a framework like Ruby on Rails provides, without having to leave the Java Platform. Grails provides this missing link by bringing the best aspects from Grails while embracing the Java platform and language itself. Grails is an open source Java/Groovy-based Rails-like framework that gives dynamic Java a boost; so, Java developers now have a viable Java-based solution instead of considering the non-Java-based Ruby on Rails, which can create more problems than it solves. Grails, sometimes called Groovy on Rails, is an emerging area of much interest with already anticipated available support from such key Java projects as Spring, Oracle, and more.

The Definitive Guide to Grails, Second Edition, will be the first and definitive book on Grails written by the founder and leads of Grails.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Graeme Rocher is the project lead and co-founder of the Grails web application framework. He's a member of the JSR-241 Expert Group which standardizes the Groovy language. Graeme authored the Definitive Guide to Grails for Apress and is a frequent speaker at JavaOne, JavaPolis, NoFluffJustStuff, JAOO, the Sun TechDays and more. Before founding G2One Inc, Graeme was the CTO of SkillsMatter, a skills transfer company specializing in Open Source technology and agile software development, where Graeme was in charge of the company's courseware development strategy and general technical direction.

Jeff Brown (http://javajeff.blogspot.com/), long term Grails committer and active community member, works for G2One Inc (http://www.g2one.com) - the Groovy/Grails company - as Director of North American Operations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 2nd ed. 2009. Corr. 2nd printing edition (January 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599950
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599952
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's based on Grails 1.1, December 31, 2010

By 

P. M Palmer "Phil" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Grails (Expert's Voice in Web Development) (Paperback)

This book is OK. But since it is written to grails 1.1, it is way out of date. The online resources are more accurate.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a definitive guide to Grails - read the book and become Grails expert, May 24, 2009

By 

Jacek Laskowski (Warszawa, Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Grails (Expert's Voice in Web Development) (Paperback)

The Definitive Guide to Grails, Second Edition (aka DGG2) is no doubt the best Java book I've ever read, and for what it's worth mentioning I read it from cover to cover. It was not only because it was about Grails I meant to get skilled at, but also for its comprehensive English language. I took the liberty of writing complete reviews of each chapter on my blog, so it kept me busy almost 3 months to digest all the Grails goodies Graeme and James collected in their book. Although it was my second book about Grails (after "Beginning Groovy and Grails: From Novice to Professional") I couldn't stop reading it. The more I read the often I asked myself why it took me so long to appreciate Grails features. The book covers the features of Grails 1.1 which was in beta while the book was written yet the material didn't get outdated with its final release. The authors made all the efforts to ensure the book is complete and up-to-date even though Grails 1.1 was not available at that time yet.

I don't want to spoil your reading of the book and its unique style of explaining Grails features by its authors, so if you're like me chasing the simplicity of Grails and trying it out in your projects that's definitely a book you have to read. There are almost 650 pages divided into 17 chapters and one appendix about Groovy - the language of Grails. You shouldn't afford yourself just to read it once - you might easily fail to notice all the gems presented in this book. There are so many that even reading it twice might not be enough. I had a pleasure to read it once, underline all the stuff I considered useful and used it in the reviews afterwards. All in all I think I read it a couple of times and I always found something new I'd missed earlier. I must admit that after a few weeks I was even completely fed up with Grails as there were too much to digest. It reminded me of reading a science book with lots of equations, examples and their explanations - even if I enjoyed it and could read it over night, the best bet to not get swamped was to read it chapter by chapter or even section by section and do the samples myself. DGG2 was not different. It contains the gory details of Grails presented by its project lead and its project member, so who else could bring you the latest stuff right and in details?

It's definitely a definitive guide to Grails. I don't think Grails could have been presented better than what you can find in the book. I'm sure many could share my view that one can't call himself a Grails expert unless (s)he has read the book. You can't simply let yourself miss the pleasure of reading the book. It's like you never programmed with Java IDE and be once presented with its features one by one in a very organized manner. You'll surely get astonished how much you missed for so long. So will happen to you after reading this book. No matter whether you're a Grails developer now or want to become one soon, you'll come across many ground-breaking solutions of Grails in this book. It is highly recommended for anyone who keeps looking for the Holy Grail of the web application frameworks. It could just be Grails after all.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and comprehensive, March 8, 2009

By 

Trevor Burnham (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Grails (Expert's Voice in Web Development) (Paperback)

This is one of the best-written programming books I've come across. It covers every aspect of creating a Grails application. Although this is a thick book, and not a "put together a Grails app in a few hours" book, it nonetheless manages to keep a brisk pace, conveying plenty of useful information without getting mired in detail.

As a bonus, the book features an appendix that covers the basics of the Groovy programming language. However, if you plan to develop in Groovy on a regular basis, you might want to consider adding Groovy in Action to your library.

[Edit: Grails 1.1 has been released since this book came out. The changes to the API are pretty minor, so this book still stands out as an excellent introduction. However, Grails in Action (which I haven't read yet) promises to be a more up-to-date primer.]