Grails magical second act: The plugin ecosystem

So as you might have gathered I love the Grails framework. The full stack framework is nothing short of magic compared to anything else in its domain. Since the arrival of the core framework (the first act) it has completely transformed my web development: Better, Faster, Smarter,

Anyway it just occurred to me over the weekend that Grails is in fact now on its second act. That in someways is more spectacular than the first. So what is this second act that tops the first one.

The plugin architecture:

I have always thought that the plugin architecture is "tres kool" and I have even written and released my own (Javascript Validator, Grails Template Engine). But it wasn't until i used the S3 Plugin this weekend that it really dawned on my how powerful the plugins are (and can be).

The S3 plugin is the first "full stack" plugin that i have used. It comes with a domain class, tag lib and background tasks. All aimed at seamlessly adding S3 support to your application in no time. I took me about 3-4 hours to integrate and test the plugin into my new app.

With its sync and async modes the plugin is very will written. Also keeping with the Grails philosophy it simply sprinkles magic groovy dust over an existing java framework (jets3)

Anyway just thought I would share this with you all. I think that the awesomeness of the the potential in grails plugins is just beginning and that we can expect to see some really cool stuff coming.

Peace...