Groovy
Closure Delegate using Groovy “with” Method
@neurolizar published a clarifying post about how to use Groovy's with to write more succinct code.
Spock
▶ Idiomatic Spock
@rfletcherEW talk at GR8Conf US 2015 is a chant to write Spock tests with clarity and expressiveness in mind. Please watch the talk or at least read the Idiomatic Spock slides. It is pure gold.
I specially liked the concept of writing test with two persons in mind, the person who reads the tests for the first time and the person who has to fix the test after a failure. With the latter in mind I learned how to use Unroll better and how to write tests which output a more clear diagnostic information.
Moreover, it is the first time where someone gives me a clear explanation about when to use when/then or given/expect.
Grails
Binding External Configuration properties in a spring boot application
Ashu Kohli shows in this post how to inject configuration properties with the @Value annotation in a Spring Boot application.
I will test it tomorrow since I've been struggling to define properties of a Service Bean from a Grails 3.0 application.yml file.
Video
▶ Microservices: The Right Way - YouTube
@danveloper revisits the microservices topic in his talk at GR8Conf US 2015. It is an opinionated and funny talk. The talk differentiates between platform architecture and distributed service layer microservices. He discusses the pros and cons of each approach. He tackles the problem of API documentation as well. His opinion, which I share, is that a self documenting API which publishes the API structure in the response is the way to go.
Moreover, I discovered shadowjar; an extension of the Gradle Jar task. I think that it is going to make it into our jar generation pipeline.
Android / iOS
▶ Spock on Android
@andrewreitz_ talk at GR8Conf US 2015 shows how to use Spock on Android. The talk moves from introducing the state of testing on Android to the steps involved in getting to run Spock on Android.
Check the talk slides or better checkout the github repository and learn how to integrate Spock in your android project today.
Do you want to go all in with Groovy on Android and not just tests? Then checkout @andrewreitz's other talk at GR8Conf Getting Groovy on Android
I think is huge to be able to run Spock on Android. It is a perfect opportunity to introduce Groovy in the Android development lifecycle.
Libraries
▶ Geb Functional Testing Unleashed
Another gem of GR8Conf US 2015 is @craigatk1's talk. If you want to bring your Geb game to a new level, check the slides and code examples. You will learn about Type Page objects, how to execute raw Javascript, fight a slider etc.
So did everyone have a good week's start catching up with GR8Conf US videos? I know I've watched a few last two days.I've crafted an issue with some gems. I've still got plenty to go though!
Sergio del Amo