Great strides have been made in the field of Java-based web application frameworks, but creating a new application with them still seems like a lot of work. Grails' core strength is developing web applications quickly, so we'll jump into writing our first application right away. In chapter 1, we'll expose you to the core parts of Grails by developing a simple Quote of the Day application from scratch. You'll store and query the database, develop business logic, write tests, and even add some AJAX functionality. By the end of it, you'll have a good feel for all the basic parts of Grails.