Are you looking for Groovy interview questions? The team at GoApti has prepared a list of 10 to strengthen your concepts and preparation.
Apache Groovy is a powerful, optionally typed, dynamic language with static-typing and static compilation capabilities. It is devised for the Java platform and is aimed at improving developer productivity through a concise, familiar, and easy to learn syntax. It integrates smoothly with any Java program and immediately delivers powerful application features like including scripting capabilities, Domain-Specific Language authoring, runtime, compile-time meta-programming, and functional programming.
Source: Groovy Official Website
1. What do you understand by thin documentation in Groovy?
Thin documentation refers to a lack of proper or detailed documentation. This issue is with many object-oriented languages. Groovy programmers often complain about a lack of detailed documentation on the project or code. The documentation is limited in scope, and there is no information or very little information regarding the complex processes and run-time errors.
2. List down some of the advantages of Groovy.
As Groovy is an object-oriented programming language used for JVM, it is quite useful. The advantages of groovy are:
- Its syntax is similar to the Java language syntax.
- Because it is based on Java, it has access to a rich collection of Java libraries.
- It is fully object-oriented.
- It can be easily integrated with the existing interface.
- Groovy code is reusable and assignable.
- Groovy supports operator overloading.
- Declaration of maps, arrays, ranges, and regular expressions are possible.
- It ensures efficient navigation of objects.
3. What are the limitations of the Groovy programming language?
Some limitations of Groovy are:
- It is a little slower than the many other object-oriented programming languages.
- More memory is required than other languages.
- Groovy takes time while starting up.
- Java dependency is a factor. If one does not know Java, Groovy can be difficult to learn.
- It has thin documentation.
4. What are some of Groovy’s major features?
Some important features offered by Groovy are:
- Collection of literals: The literal syntax and its initialization are easy and readable in Groovy, whereas in Java these are difficult and cumbersome.
- Groovy Beans property: Java lacks direct syntactic support even though it is based on the concept of JavaBeans for structure. In Groovy, a field can be declared as a property or as trivial and it can access the same too.
- JDK enhancements: Many operators, classes, and additional methods have also been introduced in the latest versions of Groovy.
5. How is a string expressed in Groovy?
A groovy string is known as a Gstring. A GString represents a string that may be used for a template-like functionality. It contains embedded values that can be evaluated at runtime. For example, a value may be assigned to the GString “Hi ${address}”.
You can also use Java strings in single quotes, e.g., def example = ‘Hello world’.
6. What are closures and listeners in Groovy?
A closure in Groovy is defined as an open and anonymous block of code that takes arguments and returns a value that can be assigned to a variable. Closures reference the variables that are declared in the surrounding scope. Groovy does not support anonymous inner classes. With the help of closures, inline listeners can be determined. Listener closures are used as listener adapters in Groovy.
7. What are the differences between Groovy and Java?
The main differences between Java and Groovy are:
- Packages and classes in Groovy are imported by default when an application starts or code is executed. Import statements need not be explicitly used.
- In Java, methods are chosen at compile-time, whereas in Groovy, methods are chosen at runtime based on the type of the argument.
- In Groovy, {} block is reserved for closures. Hence array literals cannot be built with this syntax.
- Groovy does not support Automatic Resource Management or ARM block from Java 7.
- Groovy does not support Java 8 lambdas. It is considered as an anonymous inner class.
Must Read: Top 10 Effective Maven Interview Questions
8. How are comments written in GroovyDoc?
Similar to multiline comments, GroovyDoc comments are also multiline but there is one difference. A comment starts with a /** and ends with */.
9. What else do you know about Groovy?
Some other points related to Groovy are:
- It offers a familiar syntax for Java programmers.
- It can use a rich stock of Java Libraries.
- Groovy can easily integrate with existing infrastructure such as App Servers, Servlet Containers, Loads of databases with JDBC drivers etc.
- Groovy is fully object-oriented.
- It provides reusable and assignable pieces of code and is extensible.
- In Groovy, operators can be overloaded.
10. Where can Groovy be used?
Apache Groovy is a powerful language. It has a wide range of applications in important modules. When it comes to grouping or adjoining different Java modules, Groovy is the first choice. In combination, size does not matter. Moreover, almost all Java applications that currently exist can be extended via Groovy, that too very easily. Groovy’s ability to develop Java-based applications without any error is probably its most unique selling point. Apart from this, there are several other Groovy applications that are quite common. It is highly preferred by various developers.
These are the 10 most frequently asked Groovy interview questions. If you think there are other Groovy questions essential to cracking the interview, do comment. And if you have successfully cleared a Groovy interview, we’d love to know about your experience.
