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The Spring framework was created due to a number of problems with the Java language maturity path. Before the advent of EJB, Java programmers used JavaBeans to develop web applications. Although JavaBeans assisted Java programmers in designing and developing the user interface (UI), problems such as insecurity and poor transaction management posed limitations for developers.

That’s why Java developers decided to find a solution to these problems, which eventually led to the design of a framework called Spring. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the Spring framework in Java and briefly introduce its advantages and disadvantages.

Introducing the Spring framework

As mentioned earlier, Java programmers face many challenges in developing secure and powerful enterprise applications. EJB was considered as a solution; The company actually made the process of designing enterprise applications easier for programmers by developing Java components.

Of course, developing enterprise applications with EJB was not an easy task at all, as the programmer had to implement various operations such as building Home, remote interfaces, and Lifecycle callback methods, which seemed very complicated and time consuming.

At the same time, this Framework was introduced as a solution to the problems and complexities of the EJB. This framework facilitates the development of enterprise applications by introducing new techniques such as aspect-oriented programming (AOP), simple and old Java objects (POJO) and dependency injection (DI), and somehow removes all barriers in EJB. Made high.

Spring is a lightweight, open source framework that helps Java EE7 developers design and build trusted, scalable, and simple enterprise applications. In fact, the Spring Framework focuses on managing business projects. Web application design and development using Spring is much easier than older Java frameworks and various APIs such as Java Database Connection (JDBC), Java Server Pages (JSP) and Java Servlet.

In other words, the Spring framework is a collection of several other sub-frameworks such as AOP Spring, ORM Spring, Web Flow Spring and MVC Spring, also known as Spring Framework Layers. In fact, the developer can use each of these modules to develop the application separately, in addition to integrating the modules to enhance the performance of web applications.

The evolution of the Spring framework

The Framework was first released in 2004; Version 2.0, which supported the use of XML namespace and AspectJ, was then introduced to the developer community. Then Spring 2.5 came with developer support for Annotation-Driven configuration and version 3.0 with Java-based configuration (Java-based @Configuration) became available to developers. The fourth generation of this framework called Spring 4.0 also supports Java 8 and Java EE7 technologies.

Although the ability to use spring with older versions of Java is still available to developers, the minimum technology required to work with it is Java SE 6. In addition, version 4.0 of the Framework supports Java EE7 features such as messaging services (JMS2.0), JPA 2.1, and servlet (Servlet3.1), and JCache and Bean Validation.

In the latest version of this framework called Spring 5.0, many optimizations have been applied to it, for example, the manufacturer has removed some classes and methods and made updates in the containers section.

Spring Framework Architecture

The Spring framework has 7 modules called:

• Core
• AOP
• MVC
• DAO
• ORM
• Context
• Web flow

They are within this framework and by creating different platforms, it allows programmers to develop organizational applications. For example, the Spring Web MVC module can be used to develop applications based on the MVC architecture.

Benefits of the Spring Framework

1- Using POJO

As mentioned earlier, using the the framework can produce quality enterprise applications; This is possible by relying on plain Old Java Objects or POJO.

Using POJO in application development means that you will no longer need an enterprise container such as an application server. In addition, it makes it possible for developers to use powerful servlet containers such as Tomcat and rid them of EJB contracts. This also makes the framework lighter.

2- Configuration flexibility

The Spring framework uses XML and Java Annotation configuration; As a result, it gives developers more flexibility to develop enterprise applications.

3- No need for a server

Because the Spring framework provides lightweight containers for developers, it can run without the need for a web server or server application.

4- Using Spring AOP

The AOP module in this framework offers many advantages for developers, for example, it allows them to use Compilation units or different classes of loaders. In addition, it performs the dependency injection operation using the loC container, which causes the normal aspects to be configured.

5- No need to learn other resources

One of the advantages of the framework in enterprise application development is that you can do everything with it. For example, this framework uses many technologies such as JDK timers, ORM frameworks and Java EE. Therefore, developers will not have to learn all the other frameworks and technologies separately to produce the application.

6- Many modules

This framework has a modular capability, which means that it allows programmers to select a class or package. The number of packages and classes in this framework is so much that the programmer can choose without any problems.

7- Convenient testing

One of the advantages of injecting Spring dependency is that it is easy to test and test the project. In fact, experimental data injection through javabean POJO is easily available to programmers.

8- Inversion control and API

The Spring framework controls inversion and API to interpret exceptions in the JBDC programming interface.

Disadvantages of Spring framework

1- Complexity

One of the drawbacks of this framework is its excessive complexity. In other words, Spring has 2400 classes and 49 other application tools, which actually disrupts the focus of programmers on application development.

2- Difficult to learn

If you are new to programming, it is difficult for you to learn the Spring framework. In fact, due to new programming methods and a lot of details, novice programmers will have problems learning this framework.

3- Excessive increase of parallel mechanisms

Although this is an advantage because it gives programmers more power to choose, it can sometimes confuse them. In other words, the programmer must know which method or class to use in a particular situation.

4- Many XMLs

If you have experience with the Spring framework, you will quickly realize that application development through this framework depends on the use of many XMLs. So if you are new to programming, you need to prepare yourself for working with the XML in this framework.

5 – Lack of auxiliary resources and guidance

For some important topics such as Cross-Site Scripting attacks or sending fake requests to the site such as DDOS attacks, no help resources are available to developers. In addition, several security holes can be seen in it!