No, but replacing "programming-in-configuration-files" (whether those configuration files are XML or JSON or something else) with programming in an actual programming language (see eg Maven -> Gradle) is, IMO.
Given that my Maven builds run circles around the Android Gradle ones, and that it is still a session subject at Google IO, I hardly see that as progress.
Groovy (on the JVM) joined the Apache Software Foundation 2 years ago after being ditched by VMware/Pivotal. Like the EF, the ASF is another place where software goes to die -- Apache Groovy and Eclipse Ceylon. There's nothing wrong with the original premise of Groovy being a lightweight dynamically-typed scripting language for the JVM, by adding closures to Beanshell. But along the way it got plagued by feature-creep and leadership problems, and started trying to compete with statically-typed languages like Java and Scala. It's only real widespread use nowadays is for writing 20-liner build scripts for Gradle in Android Studio. As for Grails, no-one's upgrading their old version 2 projects to version 3, or starting new projects in it.
Only with the help of a background daemon to catch its data model, a few GB of memory and SSD, to achieve what Maven has doing without daemon help on plain HDDs.
We at Communitivity see build ecosystems as being in one of four phases of evolution:
* Instructive - Actual low level commands are basically entered in the build file, with some flow control logic. An example is Make. Ant is another, though Ant straddles the line between Instructive and Imperative. In military terms, you dictate individual unit actions.
* Imperative - Build commands are entered into the build file, with each command having parameters used to control how it executes. Each build command represents two or more low level commands. There can be some declarative configuration, but the main part of the build is still a program of commands. Examples are Gradle and Rake. In military terms, you dictate individual unit tactics.
* Declarative - The build file is now no longer about entering low or high level commands, it is about declaring your intent, i.e. what you want the build to do. Examples are Lein and Maven. In military terms, this is providing units with Commander's Intent and letting the units do what they do best.
* Predictive - The build file is declarative, but the build ecosystem tracks developer activities and incorporates AI technologies to predict what the user's intent will be, and to inform the user so they are better able to determine their needs. In military terms this is strategy augmented with a Centaur System (a system with both a human and one or more AI components that work together as one entity).
Communitivity, Inc is building Chiron, an Open Source predictive build ecosystem that will be released in 2018. Follow @Communitivity on Twitter for more information in the coming months.
Ouch. Well, live and learn. It would be nice though if one or two of those who down-voted me explained why my comment was objectionable, so at least I can avoid a repeat of whatever mistake I made.
The comment only very tangentially touches on the subject matter of the GP. Crucially, it seems to suggest that Maven is at a higher "phase of evolution" than Gradle (which is anachronistic) which is the opposite of both the GP and my original claim. A valuable contribution might be to explain why Gradle belongs at a lower level of evolution from Maven.
Further, the comment is written in a pretty grating marketing-style: "We at Communitivity see build ecosystems..." and ends by plugging a product. Also, military analogies are pretty weird when addressing an audience of people who on average have substantially more experience with build systems than with military command structure.
I looked at your comment history, and this is not how you write. (Also, more of a curious aside, you've had a profile with that name for 6.5 years, and this comment seems to be the first record of you being a plural "we" launching a product?). You clearly understand the style of this community and how to contribute, and should not need explaining why copy-pasting an only barely not-off-topic marketing blurb would be unpopular.
Thanks for replying and explaining the down vote. I'm a DoD contractor for now, and I think what happened regarding the marketing style is that I was still in my 'office' voice, which is by nature always marketing, and I was also talking about a product I am excited about. I know it's hard to believe, but that was actually typed out, not copy pasted. DoD contracting is a different world and when there I have to write like that..my brain just hadn't clicked over from a DoD mindset to a startup mindset.
Which is ironic, because a good chunk of my success as a contractor is improving DoD projects I work on by applying the stuff I've learned from the startup community through HN, blogs, and friends doing startups.
You are also right regarding evolution, it's not the right word and I should have taken the time to come up with the right word - since it can't be evolution as Gradle came after Maven. Also, I was responding to a comment thread that had already started to drift from the GP to be on Maven vs. Gradle, and shouldn't have drifted it further.
To answer your question on the profile.. I had an aborted attempt to do a startup when the company I was with changed their IPR terms at the same time my parents died, and I wound up putting that dream on the shelf until I left that company. For various reasons (family medical costs among them) I wasn't able to go all-in 100% on my startup.
I appreciate the help, and will make sure I change hats before commenting in the future. To end on a smile, I'll show why this will be harder than you might think. Writing the first sentence I had a brief moment where I was about to type "Your help is greatly appreciated. I'll ensure my comments are of higher quality in the future, and carefully consider the content of future postings". Then I realized I was doing it again.
