Java Framework List

Frameworks are written in a programming language. In Java, we use frameworks for creating applications by using the Java programming language. The reusable code written in Java programming language and act as a template is referred to as Java Framework. We develop apps by filling our custom code in the Java framework. Java framework contains classes and functions which we can use for processing input, interacting with system software, and managing hardware devices.

There are several Java frameworks available in the market. Let's understand some mostly used frameworks and understand the similarities and differences between them. These frameworks are as follows:

1. Spring
2. Hibernate
3. JSF(Java Server Faces)
4. GWT(Google Web Toolkit)
5. Struts
6. Blade
7. Play
8. Vaadin
9. Grails
10. DropWizard

Spring Framework

Spring framework is one of the most used Java Frameworks by the developer. It is a very light weighted framework, and due to which it can be easily used for any type of Java project. Spring is a framework of frameworks because of providing support to various frameworks such as EJB, Hibernate, JSF, etc.

Spring Framework has several modules such as MVC, IOC, DAO, ORM, etc. In order to learn more about Spring, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of Spring Framework:

1. The spring framework has several predefined templates to provide support for technologies like Hibernate and JDBC
2. The Spring has a feature of dependency injection and due to which Java applications are loosely coupled.
3. The dependency injection features make testing of applications very easy.
4. Spring has POJO implementation and due to which it is very light weighted.
5. It provides fast development of the JavaEE application with the help of its dependency injection feature.
6. Spring framework provides a powerful abstraction for JavaEE specifications.

Hibernate Framework

For interacting with the database and simplifying the development of Java applications, Hibernateis one of the most used frameworks of Java. It is an ORM tool that is freely available in the market. ORM stands for Object Relational Mapping. Hibernate is very lightweight that implements the specification of JPA for data persistence. Here, JPA stands for Java Persistence API. To learn more about Hibernate, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of Hibernate framework:

• Hibernate framework is an open-source and light-weighted framework under the LGPL
• Hibernate framework uses cache internally, which increases the performance and provides fast accessibility.
• We don't need to create a table in the database. Hibernate framework automatically creates it for us in the database.
• It provides facilities to get data from multiple tables in a very efficient way.
• Hibernateprovides statistics about query and database status by using query cache.

JSF(JavaServer Faces) Framework

JavaServer Faces is another important Java framework. It is based on the server-side component. It is mainly used for designing Java web applications. It provides several API, tag libraries, and well-defined programming models.

We use tag libraries for adding components on the web page and connecting components with the object on the server. To learn more about JSF, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of JSF:

1. We can easily create a user interface by using its built-in UI component library.
2. It provides separation between presentation and behavior.
3. It has a robust event handling mechanism.
4. It provides support for internationalization and accessibility.
5. It is highly pluggable.

GWT(Google Web Toolkit) Framework

GWT(Google Web Toolkit) is another open-source Java framework. By using GWT, we can easily design beautiful user interfaces even if we have a little knowledge of front-end scripting language.

The GWT framework converts the Java code into a browser-friendly package. GWT Java-to-JavaScript Compiler, GWT Development Mode, JRE emulation library, and GWT Web UI class library are the components used in the GWT framework. To learn more about GWT, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of GWT:

1. GWT code is reusable, and all the facilities come along with Java.
2. GWT handles browser compatibility.
3. GWT easily maintains the code when the application becomes larger.

Struts Framework

Struts is another important Java framework used for developing web applications. It is an Apache-run enterprise level framework and comes in two versions, i.e., Struts 1 and Struts 2. We mostly use 2^nd version of it because it extends the first version. To learn more about Struts, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of the Struts framework:

1. In the Struts framework, MVC components are configurable. It means, if we want to modify the information of component and action, we can simply make changes in the struts.xml file.
2. It has POJO( Plain Old Java Project ) based actions.
3. It also provides supports for AJAX technology.
4. We can easily integrate the Struts 2 application with other frameworks such as hibernate and spring.
5. It provides different types of tags such as control tag and UI tag for easy development of Struts 2 application.

Blade Framework

The Blade is another open-source and light-weighted Java framework. It is basically a templating engine that is a part of the broader framework called Laravel. The Blade framework plays a very important role in creating complex web applications in Java. The Blade framework is a very user-friendly framework and provides access to other functionalities of the Laravel framework.

These are some of the following features of the Blade framework:

1. It is a very light weighted MVC framework, and due to that, it is very easy to code in comparison to the other framework.
2. Blade framework follows the concept of modularity. So, we can write the code of our application into different modules.
3. It provides configuration files and comprehensive plug-in support.
4. We can use the Blade framework with JDK 1.6 or a higher version.

Play Framework

Just like the Blade framework, the Play framework is also an open-source and light-weighted framework. It is used to design or develop complex web-based applications. It has stateless and web-friendly architecture.

These are some of the following advantages of using the Play framework:

1. Play framework is a developer-friendly framework which means any changes in the code will reflect by simply hit refresh.
2. It has scale predictability.
3. Play allows us to design modern web and mobile apps.
4. The execution of the code is very fast.
5. It has a huge ecosystem around Java.

Vaadin Framework

The Vaadinframework is also used to develop web applications. It also provides support of AJAX and JavaScript, so we can work with both of them in this framework. We can use the GWT framework also in it to include the external functionality. In the browser, it renders a large amount of data without the need for any markup files. To learn more about the Vaadin framework, click here.

These are some of the following advantages of the Vaadin framework:

1. It provides several components, layouts, and libraries that make it easier to use.
2. Vaadin framework takes the support of GWT to develop the web-based application. We don't need to use markup languages for it because GWT provides all kinds of support related to this.
3. It is very easy and simple to learn. It is also very easy to integrate with the other frameworks.
4. The Vaadin framework fully supports object-oriented programming concepts, and due to which we can easily develop the website.

Grails Framework

Grail is another Java framework that is mainly used to develop web applications using Java. The Grails framework is also a plugin-based framework that uses its built system and plans to migrate to Gradle.

These are the following advantages of Grails framework:

1. Smart coding.
2. Vibrant and Supportive Community.
3. Grails Scaffolding.
4. Compatibility.
5. Extensive Plug-ins.
6. Minimal Server Restart

DropWizard Framework

The DropWizard Framework is different from all the frameworks which we mentioned above. It is an open-source Java framework that is mainly used to develop high-performance Rest web services. It gathers libraries such as Junit, Jackson, and Jetty for creating lightweight packages.

These are some of the following advantages of the DropWizard framework:

1. It follows the concept of modularity.
2. We can easily perform rapid prototyping.
3. It supports various open-source and independent libraries.
4. It supports various frameworks and integration.
5. It is OOPs friendly.

All the above-discussed frameworks are widely used to implement desktop applications, web applications, and Rest web services.