Using Java For Backend Web Development
Java is a mature and widely implemented programming language. It can be used to develop desktop and mobile applications, large-scale data processing, backend development, embedded device programming, and more.
According to Oracle, the owner of Java, over 3 billion devices use Java. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using Java for backend web development and the top Java frameworks.
Why You Should Use Java for Backend Infrastructure?
Here are a few advantages of using Java for backend web development.
- Scalability and Robustness: Java has a robust type-checking mechanism that strengthens it. The JVM enables dynamic linking and a secure environment, so Java can run anywhere. Automatic memory management and disposal collection contribute to Java’s high scalability, helping to improve the speed of web application development.
- Open Source Library: Most Java libraries are free and open source with expert support. Using such libraries dramatically speeds up the backend programming of web projects. There are countless Java libraries for various purposes, such as logging, JSON parsing, unit testing, XML and HTML parsing, messaging, PDF and Excel reading, cryptography, and more.
- Diversity: Java is the leading language for developing Web applications, Android applications, and other software tools such as Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans IDE, among others. Java has expanded its scope of use cases from current data science and machine learning applications to IoT applications.
- Security: Java reduces security issues and risks due to the reduced use of explicit pointers. A pointer is an object that contains the memory address of another object and can be used to obtain unwanted memory access. Eliminating the concept of pointers overcomes this problem.
- Platform Independency: Java is platform-independent, meaning it’s a “Write Once, Run Anywhere” (WORA) language. In the case of Java, the compiled code runs on any machine with a different operating system, being platform-independent. We could run this code on any machine that supports the Java Virtual Machine.
- Supports multi-threading: Java is a multithreaded language, which means that more than one thread will run concurrently. A thread is the smallest unit in a process. Multithreading helps us optimally utilize the CPU. It increases an application’s efficiency and performance, and multiple threads use all shared memory space.
Best Java Frameworks for Backend Development
Several Java backend frameworks exist, especially with varying abilities and features. Some of the popular ones include:
- Spring: Spring is an inversion of the control container used to develop lightweight Java-based applications. Any Java application can use the framework’s core functionality; however, there are enhancements for constructing web applications on top of the Java EE framework.
- Hibernate ORM is a Java object-relational mapping tool that offers a framework for mapping a relational database into an object-oriented domain model.
- Play: The productivity and performance combination makes it easy to build high-scalability online applications with Java and Scala. Play allows developers to create “simply hit refresh” workflow applications that are developer-friendly and have built-in support for testing. Applications scale reliably because of Play’s stateless and non-blocking architecture. Play fits the current needs of online and mobile applications since it is naturally RESTful by default and has asset compilers, JSON, and WebSocket support.
- Struts: Apache Struts is a free and open-source web application framework that enables developers to build enterprise-level Java EE web applications. It offers and extends the Java Servlet API to encourage developers to use a model-view-controller paradigm. Craig McClanahan developed it and then presented it before the Apache Nation.
Join TechSarvam to learn and apply your knowledge of how to use Java for backend web development.