Apache Groovy vs. BoxLang vs. Java vs. ZenScript Comparison Chart

Apache Groovy is a powerful, optionally typed and dynamic language, with static-typing and static compilation capabilities, for the Java platform aimed at improving developer productivity thanks to a concise, familiar and easy to learn syntax. It integrates smoothly with any Java program, and immediately delivers to your application powerful features, including scripting capabilities, Domain-Specific Language authoring, runtime and compile-time meta-programming and functional programming. Concise, readable and expressive syntax, easy to learn for Java developers. Closures, builders, runtime & compile-time meta-programming, functional programming, type inference, and static compilation. Flexible & malleable syntax, advanced integration & customization mechanisms, to integrate readable business rules in your applications. Great for writing concise and maintainable tests, and for all your build and automation tasks.

The Java™ Programming Language is a general-purpose, concurrent, strongly typed, class-based object-oriented language. It is normally compiled to the bytecode instruction set and binary format defined in the Java Virtual Machine Specification. In the Java programming language, all source code is first written in plain text files ending with the .java extension. Those source files are then compiled into .class files by the javac compiler. A .class file does not contain code that is native to your processor; it instead contains bytecodes — the machine language of the Java Virtual Machine1 (Java VM). The java launcher tool then runs your application with an instance of the Java Virtual Machine.