Simpler API for containers

[eskatos]

The API for using Gradle domain object containers is too large. The Kotlin and Groovy DSLs for using Gradle domain object containers are different and have too many peculiarities. Put another way, with containers there are too many ways to do the same thing.

This creates cognitive overhead for users by hurting the discoverability of API and DSLs and cluttering reference documentations. For the same question/problem one can find different answers/solutions on the interwebs, making learning Gradle harder. We also pay a cost in developer productivity and ability to move the product forward by carrying a lot of debt.

Let’s reduce the API surface and increase the DSLs uniformity by looking at this problem through the lens of containers.

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This work impacts the Java API, the Groovy DSL and the Kotlin DSL.