At present, Java is more popular than other programming
language. It is also a programming language which is used widely by developers
for building desktop GUI application, web applications, web services and mobile
apps. But the developers still need robust frameworks, IDEs and development
tools to write the applications in Java rapidly and efficiently. Each developer
also has option to choose from many Java frameworks, IDEs, and development tools
according to his specific needs.
Overview of 10 Widely Used Java Frameworks, IDEs, and
Development Tools
1. Spring MVC
Spring is one of the mature and popular Java web frameworks
available in the market. In addition to supporting model-view-controller (MVC)
software development paradigm, Spring also simplifies common programming tasks
like database integration, web services creation, and security. The programmers
also have option to use Spring Boot to create Java web applications that can be
deployed without dealing without complex XML configurations. Spring Boot
further comes with a number of production-ready features like health checks,
metrics and externalized configuration. The most recent version of the
framework further comes with a command line tool that allows programmers to run
Groovy scripts, and prototype web application quickly using Spring.
2. JavaServer Faces Technology (JSF)
Oracle has developed JavaServer Faces Technology (JSF) as
the official Java EE web framework. The framework developed through Java
community process helps programmers to create server-side user interfaces
rapidly. It allows users to create websites rapidly by keeping the presentation
layer separate from application logic. The developers can even use the
JavaServer Faces UI component tags to connect the application logic and
presentation layers of the project without writing any additional code. The
members of the community also provide new JavaServer Faces APIs regularly to
simplify Java web application development process.
3. Vaadin
Vaadin makes it easier for programmers to write server-side
components of single-page web applications in Java. The developers can also use
to Vaadin to develop web UIs with HTML. They can further take advantage of the
robust Vaadin Elements containing a variety of customized HTML elements for
business applications. They can even use components like charts, data grids and
combo box to extend the Google Polymer library. The tools provided by Vaadin
Pro further help developers to make their web applications more interactive and
mobile-friendly, along with reducing coding time significantly.
4. Google Web Toolkit (GWT)
The web toolkit from Google helps developers to make the web
applications more responsive by compiling the Java code into JavaScript. As
JavaScript is supported by each modern web browser, the compilation enhances
the website's accessibility and performance. The GWD SDK includes a compiler
and a development server, along with core Java APIs and widgets. These
components enable developers to write client-side applications in Java, and
then deploy the frontend code as JavaScript. At the same time, the GWT compiler
optimizes the code base by removing dead code and reducing performance
bottlenecks.
5. Grails
Grails is a version of Ruby on Rails for Java platform
written in Groovy programming language. The programmers can integrate Grails
seamlessly with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). They also have option to extend
and enhance the framework by either creating custom plug-ins or using existing
plug-ins. At the same time, they can also avail several advanced features
provided by the framework including NoSQL support, integrated ORM, asynchronous
programming, and compile-time meta-programming. The users can also take
advantage of domain-specific languages to effectuate querying, validation and
markup rendering.
6. Play Framework
In addition to being a MVC web framework, Play is also
designed with features to simplify development of web services. The framework
further supports multiple JVM-based programming languages including Java and
Scala. Features like stateless services and asynchronous I/O make Play different
from other Java web frameworks. The users can further take advantage of the
code refresh feature of the framework to check the impact of changes made to
the code instantaneously without rebuilding or restarting the whole project.
Play further enables programmers to avail a wide variety of plug-ins, testing
tools, and IDEs while helping developers to build scalable web applications.
7. Dropwizard
As a modern and lightweight framework, Dropwizard helps
developers to build and deploy both Java web applications and web services. It
further focuses on the glue between various components to provide an integrated
development experience to programmers. The latest version of Dropwizard further
takes advantages of the new features included in Java 8 to enhance the application's
compatibility and security. It further allows programmers to monitor and assess
the behaviour of the code in production environment using Metric libraries.
8. Eclipse
The open source IDE is written in Java, and designed with
features to simplify development of a variety of Java applications. It supports
major platforms like Windows, Linux and OS X. The users can easily customize
Eclipse according to their specific needs by using a wide range of plug-ins and
extensions. They can even avail a set of useful features provided by Eclipse
including Windows Builder, XML Editors and Tools, Maven Integration, Git Team
Provider, Mylyn Task List, and Code Recommenders Developer Tools.
9. NetBeans
The open source IDE is written in Java, and enables
developers to build desktop, web and mobile apps with Java. In addition to
being cross-platform, NetBeans also supports an array of programming languages
in addition to Java. The users can further build a variety of Java applications
efficiently by availing the robust features provide by NetBeans including quick
and smart code editing, GUI development tools, static analysis tools, debugger
and profiler. Also, NetBeans make it easier for programmers to update their
existing applications to Java 8.
10. JSource
Despite being a lightweight IDE, JSource comes with features
to facilitate cross-platform application development with Java. It is also
developed fully with Swing component. JSource is also designed with features to
help programmers to create, edit, compile and run a variety of Java files
efficiently. However, it supports syntax highlighting for several programming
languages in addition to Java. The Java programmers also have option to
integrate JSource with other widely used Java frameworks and development tools.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9674538