Based on the dynamic language Groovy and leveraging popular Open Source libraries such as Spring and Hibernate, Grails offers the ease of use that developers using Java technology have been crying out for whilst at the same time embracing the software stacks already familiar to these developers.

However, Grails is not just a web framework, but rather a complete software stack including an advanced build system; an integrated object-relational mapping (ORM) layer built on Hibernate; and advanced Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) for performing common tasks such as validation, URL rewriting, and querying. In addition, Grails provides and extensible plug-in system and a rich array of plug-ins that further extend its capabilities.

In this session, Graeme Rocher - Head of Grails Development at SpringSource - will take you through a guided tour of the framework and its features.

You'll learn how Grails dramatically simplifies the use of persistence via Hibernate through meta-programming techniques; how, through the use of convention, Grails obviates the need for verbose Spring configuration; and how Groovy can significantly reduce the verbosity of your Java technology-based code.