Java is still the most famous and trusted programming language for developers. In recent years java is evolving and coming with new features like Frameworks, Java Enterprise Edition that simplify the development of enterprise applications. With the help of a  framework, java provides the best solutions for any domain: banking, e-commerce, big data, finance, etc. Frameworks provide a pre-developed code as a template, which a developer can use for creating an application by filling in their code.  Java frameworks help the developers to focus more on business logic instead of worrying about general functionalities like exception handling, database connection, etc. Although we have various frameworks developed on java, we will discuss some best and very commonly used frameworks in this article.

1)   Spring

Spring is a freeware framework used to develop enterprise applications. With the spring framework’s help, developers can build broadly coupled modules where frameworks manage dependencies rather than depending on the code libraries. Spring framework performs repeated tasks in programming the data messaging and data processing.

Spring framework is comprehensive, covers all the features, including configuration and security. We use all the modules of spring in developing enterprise applications.

Advantages

1. It gives a lightweight container, which we can start without using an application server software.

• Spring supports JDBC, which reduces the error and improves the productivity.

• Spring supports backward testability and compatibility of the code.

2) Struts

Apache Struts is an MVC and Open-source framework that we use for building attractive and beautiful java applications. We use MVC, i.e., Model, View, Controller, for creating interactive web applications. It expands the JSP API (Application Programming Interface). In a conventional Servlet-JSP approach, when a user submits a form with all the details, the form then goes to the servlet for processing, or the authority goes to the next JSP (Java Server Page).

This becomes perplexing for difficult applications, as the presentation or view layer should not have business logic. Struts split the Model, View, and Controller and enables the encapsulation between them through the configuration file. Struts are easy to configure, offers more extensibility and flexibility over the conventional MVC approach through JSP and Servlets.

Advantages

1. This framework documentation is useful for active web applications.

• It decreases development time and eases application management.

• We can incorporate Struts with other frameworks for performing the tasks which are not created on the platform.

3) Hibernate

Hibernate is an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) framework of java, and we use it for developing database structures. Hibernate is not a full-stack framework, but it changes the way we look at JPA’s ((Java Persistence API) deployment. Just like SQL, Hibernate Queries are known as HQL (Hibernate Query Language). While working with java, we can face a Paradigm Mismatch problem known as Object-Relational Impedance Mismatch.

We face that problem because Object Oriented languages and Relational Database Management Systems deal with the data differently, causing severe mismatch problems. Hibernate offers you a framework that resolves those mismatch problems.

Advantages

1. It is an open-source and free framework.
2. It eliminates repetitive code from the JDBC API.

4) JavaServer Faces(JSF)

Oracle develops this framework within Java Enterprise Edition 7. We use it for developing the interfaces for Java-based web applications. It is a stable and component-based user interface framework. This framework’s main objective is to encapsulate different client-side technologies like Html, javascript, css, and allow the developers to create the user interface (UI) without knowing in-depth about these technologies. They can drag and drop the UI elements and concentrate more on the details of the presentation layer. In this framework, the default modeling system is Facelets. If we use this framework in the Integrated Development Environment (IDE), it is suitable to develop web applications.

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Advantages

1. JavaServer Faces offers rich libraries and good tools.
2. It extends the java base code with the web interface without modifying the native application by using a new framework.

5) Apache Hadoop

Hadoop offers a software framework and works with the MapReduce programming model. These services can handle massive amounts of data, and we can analyze, process,  store these services to give quicker and more effective results. Hadoop assists in the distributed data storage and handling through the master-slave design model. The HDFS(Hadoop Distributed File System) layer of the master node contains a data node. The MapReduce layer contains tasktracker and JobTracker. The slave node contains the taskTracker and Data node.

6) Google Web Toolkit(GWT)

Google Web Toolkit(GWT) is a freeware tool that allows web developers to create and maintain challenging javascript front-end applications. Apart from some local libraries, we can build all the javascript things on the supported platform with incorporated Google Web Toolkit Ant build files. GWT emphasizes the recyclable methods for web development general tasks like internationalization, bookmarking, cross-browser portability, and remote procedure calls.

Advantages

1. GWT is easy to learn.

• GWT is suitable for creating responsive web applications with massive raising on the client-side and reducing the server-side load.

• It has different javascript libraries, and it makes the developers appreciate the power of the GWT.

• GWT has in-built support to refactor the java code for maintaining good design.

7) Grails

Grails is another best java web framework, invented by Groovy JVM programming language. Groovy is an Object-oriented programming language for the Java platform to improve developer productivity. The rules of this programming language are compatible with Java. We compile the groovy programs by converting them to the JVM(Java Virtual Machine) bytecode. Grails works with Spring, Java EE containers, Quartz, and SiteMesh.

Advantages

1. Grails uses groovy as the coding standard, and as groovy is identical to the java, developers think it is easy to start with the grails.

• Grails offers flexible profiles.

• It supports the reuse of the code among different grails applications by dividing the application into plugins.

8) Vaadin

It is a web framework that concentrates on the UX accessibility. It offers you a platform for efficient java development. It also enables you to develop web applications of adaptable elements. The way Vaadin 10 approaches web development is completely new. It provides you direct access to DOM from Java Virtual Machine(JVM).

In Vaadin 10, the Vaadin team divides the integral framework into two parts. It also contains a java framework known as Vaadin flow that manages server-client communication.

Advantages

1. Vaadin provides scope for binding the data through MVP or MVC.

• Drag and Drop feature streamlines the creation of web page UIs.

• It supports Java Virtual Machine languages like Scala and Kotlin.

• It uses HTML or Java to build views.

• It has in-built spring support.

9) Play

Play is a traditional and distinctive kind of framework that adapts the approach of practice over configuration. This framework is established on the MVC pattern, and it is a freeware web application framework. Other than java, we can develop Play web applications in the Scala language. Play is identical to Django or Ruby on the Rails, and it will not depend on the J2EE web standards.

Advantages

1. It provides features like code reloading, error messages in browsers.

• It is more receptive and provides failure-persistent results.

10) Dropwizard

Dropwizard is the high-performance java framework for the rapid development of RESTful web services. It is particularly ideal for creating Java microservices. Dropwizard drags together different java libraries for providing a rapid and diversion-free development platform.

Advantages

1. Through the Dropwizard framework, we can carry out quick prototyping.

• It enhances productivity.

• It supports various independent and freeware libraries.

• It builds highly efficient RESTful web services.

11) Apache Wicket

   Wicket Framework is also known as “Apache Wicket” because we can use it through Apache Software Foundation. Apache Wicket is a lightweight framework, and it has an excellent UI(User Interface). It is a freeware framework, and we use it for creating Java-based server-side web applications.

We can effortlessly integrate this framework with HTML, which allows us to create simple html pages. This framework enhances the productivity of web development through test applications.

Advantages

1. It supports both Java and Html.

• In this framework, we can write and organize our code quickly.

• Apache Wicket debugs to test specific elements of our code.

Conclusion

We have many other Java frameworks that are not a web development or full-stack development frameworks. They are still useful in all applications- like selenium to test, log4j for logging, etc. It is important to know about these frameworks, along with the frameworks mentioned above. The framework you select must satisfy your business requirements, and it must provide optimum performance. Select a framework reasonably and get the best out of the java features.

Author:

Lavanya Sreepada works as a SEO Analyst at MindMajix. She is energetic about composing articles on different IT innovations like Java, ServiceNow,Ethical hacking, cybersecurity,AWS and then some. You can reach her on LinkedIn.