Getting started with Eclipse and Groovy software development tool

Groovy Eclipse plug-in "software development" tool has a lot of potential for Java developers looking for the flexibility and speed of development of a scripting language without having to be in a completely unfamiliar set of libraries. Groovy is purposely written to be easy for Java developers to learn and understand, and also combines very well with Java and IDE at set up time as well as runtime. It is just because of this flexible nature, "software development companies in South Africa" highly recommends groovy eclipse plug-in tool.

The Groovy Eclipse Plug-in allows you to edit, compile and run groovy scripts and classes. There are two ways to install the plug-in, one is the preferred way through the update site and second is manual installation from zip archive.

* Once you have the groovy support installed it's very easy to use. The first thing you need to do is add the groovy nature to your Java project. To do that just right click on the project and click add groovy nature.

* Once that is done, you'll see various libraries added to your project and groovy has its own dual folder now.

* Now to create a new groovy class, simply right click and go to new and select groovy class. Once done, you will be presented with the new class in the editor.

* One of the best features of groovy is that it can be carried out at request time, or it can be pre-collected into regular Java class files and embedded in to a project. Hence you can run the groovy test class from the dual folder as a Java application.

* Now you can also right click any groovy class directly and say run as Groovy.

* Now the installation is completed so the next step is to decide what you actually want to do with groovy in your project.

* It might be useful to test the plug-in before you use it in your main eclipse installation. The simple test is the groovy eclipse test and to do that just right click on the project and select run as JUnit plug-in test.

Hope the installation is easy and now you can start to do development work on the eclipse plug-in. The easiest method is to download the plug-in from the update site rather than zip archive.