If you develop software for a living, you need at least one "dynamic" language in your toolkit. Languages that make it easy to do meta-programming are invaluable for many types of problems. If you are a Java developer, there are especially compelling reasons for investing in Groovy and the numerous Groovy-based frameworks -- Grails, Griffon, Gradle, Spock, Gaelyk, etc.

The purpose of this group is to cultivate a local community for learning and sharing about experiences with the Groovy and Grails ecosystem. The group is open to anyone, but it is oriented towards developers who want to learn how to build software better, faster, and have more fun doing it.

Since the Groovy community is much smaller than the Java community, we will aim to have meetings in a geographically central location (ideally in DC or inside the beltway in Northern Virginia).

We will strive to have a focused talk at each meeting, with open time for discussion topics and questions.