Groovy is an open source dynamic language which runs on the JVM. Its goal is to bring lightweight, agile, and dynamic programming to the Java world. It encompasses powerful features from Ruby, Python, PERL and Smalltalk in an expressive and intuitive syntax while keeping the view and perspective of a Java programmer. Its seamless integration with Java makes it a perfect solution for enhancing your current Java projects with dynamic behavior. This tutorial takes you through all of the basics of programming with Groovy then examines common programming tasks like file processing, XML procesing, SQL processing. Finally, it touches upon some of the fun stuff like builders, closures, metaprogramming and more. Where appropriate Apache technologies will be used when illustrating Groovy examples.