Comments on: When is Groovy (or something like it) better than XML? http://almaer.com/blog/when-is-groovy-or-something-like-it-better-than-xml blogging about life, the universe, and everything tech Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:06:53 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: James Strachan http://almaer.com/blog/when-is-groovy-or-something-like-it-better-than-xml/comment-page-1#comment-2495 James Strachan Mon, 17 May 2004 12:20:45 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/when-is-groovy-or-something-like-it-better-than-xml#comment-2495 FWIW it totally depends on what kind of XML config file it is. If there's a well defined schema, then XML can be a good choice. Where XML is a lousy choice is when the XML is generic. e.g. building arbitrary beans and stuff like this <bean class="com.acme.Foo"> <property> <property-name>bar</property-name> <property-value>123</property-value> </property> <property> <property-name>x</property-name> <property-value>456</property-value> </property> </bean> Its often way easier to just do somethign like this in groovy... new com.acme.Foo(bar:123, x:456) But like anything, YMMV and choose the best tool for the job FWIW it totally depends on what kind of XML config file it is. If there’s a well defined schema, then XML can be a good choice.

Where XML is a lousy choice is when the XML is generic. e.g. building arbitrary beans and stuff like this

<bean class=”com.acme.Foo”>
<property>
<property-name>bar</property-name>
<property-value>123</property-value>
</property>
<property>
<property-name>x</property-name>
<property-value>456</property-value>
</property>
</bean>

Its often way easier to just do somethign like this in groovy…

new com.acme.Foo(bar:123, x:456)

But like anything, YMMV and choose the best tool for the job

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