Top 10 Java Frameworks You Should Know

Java Frameworks are the bodies of pre-written code through which you are allowed to add your own code. But there are a lot of frameworks out there which have various applications. So, in this article, I’ll discuss the top 10 Java frameworks you should master.

Let’s look at the topics to be covered in this article:

• What are Java frameworks?
• Top Java frameworks used
  • Spring
  • Hibernate
  • Struts
  • Google web toolkit [GWT]
  • JavaServer Faces [JSF]
  • Grails
  • Vaadin
  • Blade
  • Dropwizard
  • Play

Let’s get it started!

What are Java frameworks?

Frameworks are large bodies of pre-written code to which you add your own code in order to solve a problem. You make use of a framework by calling its methods, inheritance, and supplying callbacks, listeners, or other implementations of the patterns.

A framework will often dictate the structure of an application. Some frameworks even supply so much code that you have to do very little to write your application. This can be good or bad, depending on how easy it is to use. Frameworks are the substance of programming. You build on top of a good one, your program is solid and fast and comes together beautifully. You build on top of a bad one, your life is miserable, brutish, and short.

Now let’s understand the different frameworks.

Top Java frameworks used

1. Spring framework

Spring Framework is a powerful lightweight application development framework used for Enterprise Java (JEE).

The core features of the Spring Framework can be used in developing any Java application. It is described as a complete modular framework. This framework can be used for all layer implementations of a real-time application. It can also be used for the development of a particular layer of a real-time application unlike the other frameworks, but with Spring we can develop all layers.

Spring and all the modules including Spring MVC, Spring Core, Spring Security, Spring ORM, etc are used in enterprise applications.

Now, let’s see where is this Spring framework used.

Uses:

• Web application development
• Its features can be used to create any Java application
• Its also used in Enterprise Java (JEE)

Advantages

• It provides a lightweight container that can be triggered without using a web server or application server software
• Spring supports JDBC that improves productivity and reduces the error
• It targets to make J2EE development easier to use
• Spring supports both XML and annotation based configuration
• It provides backward compatibility and testability of the code

Now, talking about the major companies that use Spring framework for application development, we have,

• Netflix using Spring boot
• Yatra uses Spring MVC
• Amazon
• eBay

Hibernate

Hibernate ORM is a stable object-relational mapping framework for Java. It makes better communication possible between the Java programming language and relational database management systems (RDBMS).

When you work with an object-oriented language like Java, you’ll encounter a problem called Object-Relational Impedance Mismatch also called Paradigm Mismatch. This is because OO languages and RDBMSs handle the data differently, which can lead to severe mismatch problems. So, this Hibernate provides you with a framework that overcomes the mismatch problems of Java.

Uses

• It allows you to develop persistent classes following the object-oriented idiom
• It allows you to communicate with any database using very tiny alterations in the code, bridging the gap between objects and relational words
• It is an advanced ORM framework that lets you perform the database operation on Java entities

Advantages

• Portability, productivity, maintainability
• Free and open source framework
• It removes a lot of repetitive code from the JDBC API

Now, talking about the major companies that use Hibernate framework for application development, we have,

• Oracle
• IBM
• DELL
• Accenture

Struts

This is another enterprise-level framework, maintained by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). This fully-featured Java web application framework that allows the developers to create an easy-to-maintain Java application. There are two versions. Struts 1 and Struts 2. Struts 2 is the combination of webwork framework of OpenSymphony and Struts 1. But all the companies prefer using Struts 2 because it is the upgraded version of Apache Struts.

Uses:

• The Struts 2 framework is used to develop an MVC-based web application
  
• It uses and extends the Java Servlet API to help developers to adopt MVC architecture

Advantages:

• This framework documentation is written for active web developers and assumes a working knowledge about how Java web applications are built
• Reduces the development time and makes the manageability of the application easier
• It offers Centralized Configuration i.e., rather than coding information into Java programs, many Struts values are represented in XML or property files.
• You can integrate Struts with other Java frameworks to perform tasks that are not built on the platform

Now, talking about the major companies that use Struts framework for application development, we have,

• Infosys
• Accenture
• NexGen Technologies

Google web toolkit [GWT]

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a completely free, open-source framework that helps the developers to write client-side Java code and establish it as JavaScript. A lot of Google products are written using GWT such as AdSense, Google Wallet, and Blogger.

Using GWT, developers can easily code complex browser applications rapidly. It also allows you to develop and debug Ajax applications in Java. The awesome thing about GWT is that you can write complex browser-based applications without being an expert in front-end technologies like JavaScript optimization or responsive design.

Uses:

• Developer-friendly
• Use of Google APIs
• Helps in creating and maintaining complex JavaScript front-end applications

Advantages

• It supports reusability for common web development tasks
• Google APIs can be used in GWT applications
• Offers internationalization, cross-browser portability, UI abstraction, bookmarking, and history management

JavaServer Faces [JSF]

JavaServer Faces (JSF) is developed by Oracle for building user interfaces for Java-based web applications. It’s an official standard of the Java Community Process (JCP) initiative. It’s a pretty stable framework. 

This is a component-based UI framework. JSF is based on the MVC software design pattern and has an architecture that totally defines a distinction between application logic and representation.

Uses:

• Component-based UI frameworks
• Helps in building native applications

Advantages

• JSF is an integral part of Java EE
• Provides excellent tools and rich libraries
• It allows existing backend Java code to be extended with a web interface without having to change the base application by introducing a new framework.

Grails

Grails is a dynamic framework, coined by the Groovy JVM programming language. It is an object-oriented language for the Java platform which intends to enhance developer productivity. The syntax is compatible with Java, and it’s compiled to JVM (Java Virtual Machine) bytecode. Grails works with Java technologies, including Java EE containers, Spring, SiteMesh, Quartz, and Hibernate.

Uses:

• It is very developer-friendly as it comes with detailed and easy-to-read documentation
• You can also build your own plugins and include the Grails IDE support for different platforms.
• Most of the e-commerce sites make use of Grails

Advantages

• It utilizes Groovy as its coding standard and since Groovy is similar to Java, programmers think it is easier to begin with Grails.
• Easy to use the object mapping feature
• It promotes reuse of code between different Grails application by modularizing the application in the form of plugins
• Provides flexible profiles

Vaadin

Vaadin is a web application framework which focuses on UX accessibility. It provides you with a platform for streamlined Java development. Vaadin also allows you to build web applications of customizable components.

Vaadin 10 approaches web app development in an entirely new way. It gives you direct access to the DOM from the Java Virtual Machine. With the new release, the Vaadin team split the previously monolithic framework into two parts. It also has a lightweight Java framework called Vaadin Flow that handles routing and server-client communication. 

Uses:

• This framework automates all the communication between the browser and the server
• It simplifies web application development

Advantages

• Vaadin gives an opportunity to bind data using either MVC or MVP
• Drag and drop support along with other outstanding features simplifies the creation of single-page UIs for Java applications
• Automatic server-client communication with WebSocket support
• Use Java or HTML for building views
• Data binding
• Router with the nested route and parameter support
• Supports JVM languages like Kotlin and Scala
• Built-in Spring support

Blade

This is a simple and lightweight and high-performance Java framework used for providing a full-stack web framework. Blade is a lightweight MVC Framework that provides a restful routing interface, making the web API cleaner and much easier to understand and also helps in synchronizing data with the website.

Blade is based on Java 8, and the web server and template engine are built into the framework, too. It has a minimal impression it means the source code is less than 500kb in total. 

Uses:

• Helps you to be self-contained, productive, elegant, intuitive, and super fast
• Used to create a small MVC application

Advantages

• Blade supports plug-in extensions and web jar resources
• Support for configuring multiple files
• It also possesses CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) and XSS (Cross-site scripting) defense support

Dropwizard

Dropwizard is a high-performance Java framework for rapid development of RESTful web services. It is especially suitable for creating Java microservices. The Dropwizard framework pulls together various well-established Java libraries in order to provide with a fast and distraction-free development platform.

Dropwizard is a separate ecosystem that contains all the dependencies bundled into a single package.

Uses:

• Operations-friendly Java framework

• Helps in creating Java microservices

Advantages

• You can easily perform rapid prototyping
• It develops high-performance RESTful web services
• Also supports many open source and independent libraries
• Quick Project Bootstrap
• Increase in productivity 

Play

This is a reactive web and mobile framework for highly scalable Java applications. Play makes it possible to develop lightweight and web-friendly Java and Scala applications for desktop and mobile interfaces. It is often compared with powerful frameworks of other languages, like Ruby on Rails for Ruby, or Django for Python.

Play is a unique Java framework as it doesn’t rely on the Java EE standards. Instead, it intends to remove all the inconveniences of traditional Java web development like slow development cycles, a lot of configuration and many more. Built upon Akka Toolkit, Play framework truncates the creation of concurrent and distributed applications on the Java Virtual Machine. 

Uses:

• Web applications that demand content creation
• Builds Java and Scala applications

Advantages

• Offers features like hot code reloading, convention over configuration, and error messages in the browser
• It supports non-blocking I/O which is crucial for high-performance applications
• More flexible and failure-tolerant results

This brings us to the end of this article where we have discussed the Top 10 best Java frameworks in use. Hope you are clear with all that has been shared with you in this tutorial. If you’re just beginning, then watch at this Java Tutorial to Understand the Fundamental Java Concepts.

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