Developed for Guidewire, a software company that specializes in the insurance industry, Gosu is a statically-type, general-purpose programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
Development on the language began in 2002 as a scripting language, then called GScript, at Guidewire Software. The company needed an embeddable, statically-typed scripting language for business rules. In its original form, it was largely influenced by ECMAScript.
Static typing was important in order to statically verify business logic, and because the company wanted to be able to build deterministic tooling around the language through static analysis, such as code completion, navigation, usage searching, refactoring, and so on. Java was less than ideal, largely because it provided only one meta-type (java.lang.Class). In order to represent some other type domain to Java, the only options were to write a class library to access information about the domain, or to resort to code generation, and neither of these options was desirable and, in many cases, they weren't even adequate.
Dynamic languages, like Ruby, could provide varying degrees of meta-programming, but dynamic languages lack type safety, deterministic tooling, and some of the other advantages of static typing, and this would defeat Guidewire's primary goal of exposing other type domains to the language.
Gosu was designed to provide a higher level of flexibility, but without sacrificing static typing. Unlike most programming languages, Gosu's type system is not limited to a single meta-type or type domain.
Over a period of years, Guidewire enhanced the scripting language, and it evolved into a general-purpose programming language, although it can still serve as a scripting language. In its current form, Gosu is mostly influenced by C# and Java. In 2012, Guidewire released Gosu as open-source software, under an Apache License. The Gosu development team is actively involved in the continued development of the language, its tooling, and IDE design.
Still in use by Guidewire Software, the language has also been used in several open-source projects, such as RagnarDB and SparkGS.
The chief intent of this guide is to offer resources for the Gosu programming language. Appropriate topics are the language itself, or any implementations, IDEs, editors, or tools that have been designed to facilitate its use, as well as Gosu user groups, forums, tutorials, guides, and informational sites.
Recommended Resources
The Gosu programming language was developed at Guidewire Software in 2002 and used solely for in-house software production until 2012 when it was released as open-source software. This group blog was maintained by the development team at Guidewire Software from January 2008 to May 2012, covering a variety of issues, most of which relate to the Gosu language and its application in software developed primarily for the insurance industry.
https://guidewiredevelopment.wordpress.com/
GitHub: Gosu Programming Language
Gosu is an object-oriented language with functional programming features. Hosted on GitHub, the programming language and associated files are available to be downloaded or cloned for free under the Apache 2.0 License. Its purpose and features are highlighted, build instructions, a quick-start guide, and a support forum are available. Contributors to the Gosu repository are acknowledged, and statistical data on commits, code frequency, and a dependency graph are included.
https://github.com/lboasso/gosu-lang
Google Groups is a service from the company that hosts discussion groups for people sharing common interests. Serving as a form of discussion forum, people with a Google member account who have an interest in the programming language can read announcements from the development groups, as well as ask and answer support questions, take part in other discussions relating to the language, or post or reply to job offers relating to the language.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gosu-lang
Gosu is a pragmatic programming language for the Java Virtual Machine. Designed for Java developers, the goal of the developers was to allow them to be more productive without sacrificing the benefits of Java’s simplicity and type-safety. The official language website lists the significant features of the language, offers development notes, a quick start guide, a guide to the basics of the language, and another on grammar. Links to other Gosu resources are included.
http://gosu-lang.github.io/
Guidewire is a software publisher based in California that offers a suite of online analytics services for property and casualty insurers. Guidewire also develops the Gosu programming language, which it uses in its software applications. The company offers online and custom training services on the use of its products, which includes instruction in Gosu, such as GOSU for integration, GOSU bundles, GOSU queries, as well as Gosu programming information.
https://guidewireonlinetraining.com/
