Java frameworks are specific to the Java programming language. It's a Java platform for developing software applications and Java programs. Java frameworks are bodies of reusable pre-written code acting as templates that developers can use to create applications by filling in custom code as needed.
Below are Top 10 Java Frameworks :
1. Spring
Agility, simplicity, and potency are a few features that set Spring different from other Java frameworks. It is primarily used to build enterprise-level java applications, web services, and microservices.
Big brands like Google, Netflix, and Microsoft use this technology. Extensions of Spring framework like Spring MVC and Spring Boots make it more advanced.
Spring Features:
It supports the reactive programming model for driving efficiency.
It boasts a large community and ecosystem that has documented a rich supporting library source.
It involves Java Database Connectivity that limits error to a significant extent.
It proffers backward adaptability and a seamless testing experience.
It features IoC and DI that host many other features and functionalities.
2. Java Server Faces (JSF)
Primarily used for Java Web development, JSF is maintained by Oracle technology. It is a server-side component framework used for building web applications. It focuses chiefly on the performance and displaying a layer of an application. Organizations like Deutsche Kreditbank AG and GmbH uses JSF.
JSF Features:
It has an API representing components that enables designing and managing UI components instead of applying Java and JSF.
It features libraries that allow connecting components to server-side objects.
It has a well-defined programming model that facilitates easy maintenance and building of web apps with server-side UIs.
It features a robust validation process with the capacity of merging AJAX events.
It supports differentiating between app logic and differentiation.
3. Google Web Toolkit (GWT)
GWT is an open-source set of tools used by several Google products. It is used to create and maintain Javascript frontend applications. It is used to create high-performing, complex web applications.
However, this tool is chiefly used to convert Java code into JavaScript code to build full-fledged web applications. It contains a Java-to-JavaScript compiler that, when met with a particular web browser, helps to debug GWT applications.
GWT Features:
It features JS files that can accommodate Java source codes to work on the main browsers.
It empowers programmers with less frontend programming language efficiency to build user-friendly UIs.
The applications written in GWT are cross-browser compliant that means the tool can automatically generate JavaScript code compliant on each browser.
It empowers developers to write client-side applications in Java.
It has an extended widget library that permits the programmer to address AJAX apps in Java.
4. Vaadin
A tool that primarily focuses on performance, UX, and accessibility, Vaadin serves as a platform for streamlined Java development. It is used to create web applications containing customizable components.
The latest version of this framework facilitates DOM access right from the Java virtual machine. Additionally, it empowers developers to use recovered elements with frontend JS technologies like Vue and React. DoubleSlash and Fraunhofer are popular companies that use this tool.
Vaadin Features:
It offers a high-level API to manage technical aspects like server-client communication, data binding, and more.
The recent version of this tool has categorized the monolithic framework into two components: Vaadin flow and a set of UI components.
It allows automated client-server communication and routing.
It has a WebSocket-based server push with Push annotation.
5. Grails
Built on the MVC design pattern, Grails is an automation testing framework that uses Groovy programming language. Despite Grail using Groovy language, it is perfectly compatible with Java syntax and works well with Java Development Kit, Java EE containers, Spring, and more. It is a full-stack framework that has built-in support for RESTful APIs.
Grails Features:
It comes with features that have dynamic formation. It eliminates the need to restart the server.
It facilitates the easy generating of tags for the view.
It allows the merging of Groovy and Java.
It harnesses GORM, an ORM implementation used in Grails. Another way is to use Hibernate instead.
6. Hibernate
Hibernate is an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) that makes handling databases with Java easier by eliminating the problems faced with JDBC as JDBC does not support object-level relationships which is a key concept while developing applications. Queries in Hibernate are known as HQL (Hibernate Query Language). It maps database tables to corresponding Java classes directly by creating an abstraction layer for the code to be loosely coupled. With Hibernate, developers do not have to think about establishing database connections or performing operations, it is taken care of by Hibernate itself. The hibernate.cfg.xml file contains information about database configuration and mapping.
Features:
Hibernate framework is open source under the LGPL license and lightweight.
The performance of hibernate framework is fast because cache is internally used in hibernate framework. There are two types of cache in hibernate framework first level cache and second level cache. First level cache is enabled by default.
HQL (Hibernate Query Language) is the object-oriented version of SQL. It generates the database independent queries. So you don't need to write database specific queries. Before Hibernate, if database is changed for the project, we need to change the SQL query as well that leads to the maintenance problem.
Hibernate framework provides the facility to create the tables of the database automatically. So there is no need to create tables in the database manually.
Fetching data from multiple tables is easy in hibernate framework.
Hibernate supports Query cache and provide statistics about query and database status.
7. Struts
Apache Struts is an open-source framework that is used for web applications. It follows MVC (Model-View-Controller) thus resulting in a convenient application by dividing model, view, and controller, and binding these three through the struts-config.xml file. It has two versions, Struts 1 and Struts 2. Struts 2 is the upgraded version and is preferred by all the companies. It supports AJAX, REST, and JSON as it comes with various plugins. It provides an easy setup and is more flexible as compared to traditional MVC architecture. It is a good choice for web developers.
Features:
Configurable MVC components
POJO based actions
AJAX support
Integration support
Various Result Types
Various Tag support
Theme and Template support
8. Dropwizard
It completes the application very fast owing to its enormous support for logging, application metrics, and advanced configurations. It bundles up many libraries from the Java ecosystem into a single framework. The rapid development of RESTful APIs and support for rapid prototyping make Dropwizard magical when its features are seen all together.
Features:
Out-of-the-box support for configuration, application metrics, logging, operational tools, templating, and much more
You can do rapid prototyping
Ops-friendly
Very modular
Develops high-performance RESTful web services
Supports many open source and independent libraries
Implementation of monitoring at its best with Metrics
Supports integration and the use of several third-party frameworks
9. Blade
Blade is a lightweight full-stack web framework based on MVC architecture. It works on a module basis, which helps in debugging by dividing an application into modules. Blade works with JSON files and is used for full-stack web development.
Features:
As a lightweight MVC Framework, Blade is easy to code compared to other frameworks. It also has a robust pattern.
Blade works on a modular basis. This means that you can cut up an application into modules and choose which one to work for. This process is useful for debugging.
The framework provides comprehensive plug-in support, as well as configuration files, support namely JSON, properties, and coding files.
Blade is compatible with JDK 1.6 and higher versions.
10. Play
Play framework follows convention over configuration. One of the unique things is that you can write Play applications not only in Java but in Scala as well. Play does not necessarily follow J2EE web standards. Play makes integration with Maven projects easier and creates simple JAR files. Play offers support for both the IIntelliJIDEA and Eclipse. It provides in-built relational database access libraries. It includes many features which make it a favorite of many Java developers.
Features:
Hit refresh workflow.
Powerful console & build tools.
Type safety.
Built in testing tools.
IDE support for Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA.
Advantages of Using Java Frameworks
Here you will see the advantages of using Java Frameworks:
1. Security
One of biggest advantages of using a framework is security. An extensive framework will generally have secure applications. If you are able to find a security hole or a vulnerability you can directly head towards the framework’s website. There the security issue can be fixed.
2. Support
Extensively used frameworks will have a large support group or large forums where one can have their issues resolved and questions answered. They also have documentation part where one can understand the framework.
3. Efficiency
A general task can take you hours or days to complete with many lines of code. With the use of Java frameworks, these can be done pretty easily with the help of pre-defined functions. The development becomes easier, quicker and effective.
4. Expense
Generally, the maintenance cost of the framework is very low. Also, most used structures are already present and help the developer to code faster. If the coding is done faster the expense will become lesser in every way whether it is time or effort.
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