As I'm working out SOAP + Langauge du jour problems I continue to be impressed with the utility embedded in the JVM.
Rarely do you get to develop software in a completely greenfield project. Most of us have to integrate our software with other systems and that often means dealing with SOAP. I asked about what people are doing with Groovy + SOAP over at Google+ and had a few side conversations with folks.
It turns out that when forced to deal with the abject insanity that is SOAP, most Groovy users drop back and pick up those Java tools like JAX-WS. It's tools like these that keep developers coming back to the JVM and that Java to Groovy integration story is still one of the best stories going for Groovy.
In part, you have to wonder if ... in order to understand SOAP's madness you don't need a little madness to get the job done. This insanity might have to continue to exist in practical long-lived projects for quite some time. Keeping that madness bottled up in some pre-baked libraries is honestly the best thing you can do for your own continued sanity and the sanity of your own projects.
