Grails is a web application framework that uses Groovy and Java. The framework is oriented around high-productivity application development, and uses common Java technologies such as Hibernate and Spring.
Grails is a coding-by-convention framework that leverages well-established Java frameworks (Spring, Hibernate) to allow programmers to quickly develop web applications. It touts features such as a zero-XML configuration and a typical web-application MVC architecture.
Along with its core, Grails has a plugin architecture and library that can provide developers with common web application features like Security and dynamic UI tools.
Grails 2.0 adds (Not an exhaustive list):
- Interactive Mode and Console enhancements
- JVM Reloading Agent (Vs. Class Loaders)
- New Test Report and Documentation Templates
- Enhanced Error Reporting and Diagnosis
- H2 Database and Console
- Plugin Usage Tracking
- Dependancy Resolution Improvements
- Groovy 1.8 Support
- HTML5 Scaffolding
- jQuery by Default
- Database Migrations
- Database Reverse Engineering
- Unit Test Scaffolding
More information:
- Grails 2.0 - What's new
- Grails Home
- Grails Plugin Library
- Grails Reference Documentation
- Wikipedia on Grails
- SpringSource
See grails for more information.