Summary

We started this chapter with a quick feature overview of Groovy language, covering some of the topics that would be helpful for us to understand Gradle's syntax and write better build scripts. Then, we looked at the API that Gradle exposes to our build scripts and how to consume the API via the DSL. We also covered the Gradle build phases. Then, we looked at the way in which tasks can be created, configured, have dependencies between, and run by default.

After reading this chapter, we should be able to comprehend the Gradle DSL, rather than just trying to remember the syntax. We are now in a position to read and understand any given Gradle build file, and we should now be able to write custom tasks with ease.

This chapter might feel a little long and complex. We should take some time out to practise and reread the sections that are not clear and also look up the online references given throughout the chapter. The chapters ahead will be smooth sailing.