Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

By : van der Leun
Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

By: van der Leun

Overview of this book

Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Configuring Eclipse IDE

When using the default Java Project project type in Eclipse IDE, Eclipse internally generates an XML build script based on Apache's Ant build tool and executes its tasks when the user chooses Eclipse's Compile and Build options. For small projects, this works fine, but for bigger projects, you normally need more control. In this particular case, we want Eclipse to download add-on dependencies. We have chosen the very popular Gradle build tool for this chapter's project.

As Eclipse IDE has no built-in support for Gradle out-of-the-box, we will need to install a plugin that will add this feature to Eclipse IDE. There are different plugins available that aim to do this. We will use the plugin created by the Gradle team in this case. To install it, follow these instructions:

  • From the Help menu, choose the Eclipse Marketplace... option:
  • Enter...