In this post, we'll learn about Spring and Spring Boot. The following topics will be thoroughly covered: What are Spring and Spring Boot, how do they differ from one another, how does Spring Boot stack up against Spring MVC, and a plethora of other often asked questions about Spring and Spring Boot. At the conclusion of this article, you will have a firm grasp of the principles underlying Spring and Spring Boot.
What is Spring?
The Spring Framework (Spring), an open-source application framework, provides infrastructural support for developing Java applications. One of the most popular Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) frameworks, Spring helps developers create quick Java object-based applications (POJOs).
Developers can add code to a big body of prepackaged code called a framework to solve problems in a particular domain. Java Server Faces (JSF), Maven, Hibernate, Struts, and Spring are just a few of the well-known Java frameworks.
The Apache 2.0-licensed Spring Framework was made available in June 2003 by Rod Johnson and is hosted by SourceForge.
What is Spring Boot?
The Spring Framework serves as the foundation for the project known as Spring Boot. It offers a quicker and simpler way to install, set up, and execute both straightforward and web-based programs.
It is a Spring module that gives the Spring Framework access to the RAD (Rapid Application Development) capability. Because it just requires a minimal amount of Spring configuration, it is used to construct standalone Spring-based applications that you can simply execute.
The combination of the Spring Framework and Embedded Servers is known as Spring Boot.
There is no requirement for XML configuration in Spring Boot (deployment descriptor). It employs a convention over configuration software design paradigm, which reduces the developer's workload.
To create Spring Boot, we can utilize the Spring STS IDE or Spring Initializr.
Key Differences
The servlet is the fundamental difference between bootstrapping an application in Spring and Spring Boot. Spring's bootstrap entry point is either the web.xml or SpringServletContainerInitializer. In contrast, Spring Boot bootstraps an application using only Servlet 3 characteristics.
The Spring framework requires manual configuration building. There are default settings in Spring Boot that enable quicker bootstrapping. To build a web app with Spring Framework, certain dependencies are needed. On the other hand, Spring Boot only requires one dependency to make an application functional.
What Separates Spring from Spring Boot
Spring
What is its use?
Applications are made using the Spring Java EE framework.
key element
The basic or most important element of the Spring framework is dependency injection, a design technique that eliminates dependencies from computer code to make the program easier to maintain and test.
Why is it used?
Its goal is to make Java EE (Enterprise Edition) programming simpler so that developers can perform their tasks more effectively.
Application Development Type
The Spring framework can be used to create a loosely coupled application.
Descriptor for deployment
A Spring application cannot be run without a deployment descriptor.
Support for in-memory databases
The Spring framework does not support the in-memory database.
Code boilerplate
The Spring framework demands far too many lines of boilerplate code, even for straightforward tasks.
Configurations
The Spring framework requires manual configuration building.
Dependencies
With Spring Framework, specific dependencies are required to construct a web application.
Authentication over HTTP
HTTP Basic Authentication states that a number of prerequisites and parameters must be enabled in order to provide security confirmations. Spring requires both the spring-security-web and spring-security-config requirements in order to configure security in an application. The next step is to include a class that implements WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter and makes use of the @EnableWebSecurity annotation.
Testing
Testing Spring Boot is more difficult than testing Spring Boot because of the large amount of source code.
Configuration in XML
XML Configuration is required by the Spring framework.
Tools CLI
The Spring framework does not include a CLI tool for building and testing apps.
Plugins
The Spring framework does not offer any Maven, Gradle, or other plugins, in contrast to Spring Boot.
Spring Boot
What is its use?
REST API development is the principal use of the Spring Boot framework.
key element
Spring Boot's main feature is autoconfiguration. "Spring Boot autoconfiguration" is the technique of automatically configuring a Spring application based on dependencies found on the classpath. Auto-configuration can speed up and simplify development by removing the need to define some beans that are a part of the auto-configuration classes.
Why is it used?
Rapid Application Development (RAD) functionality is added to the Spring framework by Spring Boot for faster application development.
Application Development Type
With Spring Boot, a standalone application may be created.
Dependency on servers
Just two of the embedded or built-in servers that Spring Boot provides are Tomcat and Jetty.
Descriptor for deployment
The Deployment descriptor is not necessary for Spring Boot.
Support for in-memory databases
One of the in-memory databases supported by Spring Boot is H2.
Code boilerplate
Boilerplate code is avoided, which speeds up production and saves time.
Configurations
Spring Boot comes with default options that make bootstrapping go more quickly.
Dependencies
In contrast, Spring Boot simply needs one dependency to enable an application. The final archive includes extra dependencies by default that are introduced at build time.
Authentication over HTTP
Although Spring Boot also needs these dependencies to work, we only need to specify the spring-boot-starter-security requirement because this will automatically add all the required dependencies to the classpath.
Having less source code to maintain makes testing Spring Boot easier.
Configuration in XML
No XML configuration is needed for Spring Boot.
Tools CLI
Spring Boot provides a CLI tool for building and testing apps.
Plugins
Spring Boot provides plugins for the Maven and Gradle build tools. One of the features made available by the Plugins is the packing of executable jars.
Conclusion
Although they are closely linked, Spring and SpringBoot are now well understood. Finally, Spring Boot provides all of the functionality of the normal Spring framework while also greatly streamlining application development. You can launch an application considerably quicker than using Spring thanks to Spring Boot's pre-configured attributes.
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