Advantages of Spring Boot

Spring is an ecosystem of products designed to help Java developers. Popular options in the Spring ecosystem include Spring Framework, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, Spring JDBC, Spring Boot and other. In this article, we will focus on the advantages of Spring Boot and how they assist with web application development.

What is Spring Boot?

Spring Boot is an open-source tool that makes it easier for developers to create standalone digital products and production-ready spring applications including Java applications and web services. It uses a micro framework, which makes it most useful for creating microservices for websites and mobile apps.

Spring is owned by the company Pivotal Software, which VMWare purchased in 2020. Other products released by Pivotal include RabbitMQ, Pivotal Cloud Foundry, and Cloudsleuth.

Spring and Spring Boot have undergone several updates over the years. The most recent version (as of March 2022) is Spring Boot 2.6.

Spring Boot exists to give developers an extremely fast way to build and deploy applications and services. Those are two of the top advantages of Spring Boot.

Additionally, code generation and XML documentation are never required (more on this below), so it’s easy to see why it appeals to so many coders.

Recommended reading: High Performance JVMs for Microservices

Advantages of Spring Boot

Developers have a lot of reasons that they choose Spring Boot to build microservices for mobile apps and web applications. The following list describes some of the top advantages that you can get by switching to Spring Boot.

Spring Boot works well with several servlet containers

Spring Boot works well with some of the most popular embedded servlet containers. Spring Boot uses Tomcat as its default, but you can easily swap it for Jetty, Undertow, Resin, and Wildfly. You get to choose the option that improves the specific types of functionality that concern you most.

Just as importantly, Spring Boot automatically identifies the servlet you set as the new default during the boot sequence. These Advantages of Spring Boot give you the flexibility to choose embedded servers that suit your needs best.

Bootstrapping saves memory space

Spring Boot uses Boot Initializer to compile the source language. This bootstrapping technique makes it possible for users to save space on their devices and load applications quickly.

Decreased boilerplate code

Spring Boot’s in-memory database and embedded server (Tomcat) decrease or eliminate the boilerplate code typically needed to set up an application.

Without lots of boilerplate code, development teams can shorten their development times and update cycles, leading to more satisfied users and more productive employees. It’s yet another of the advantages of Spring Boot that helps developers save time.

No XML configuration required

Spring project developers can choose to use annotations or XML configurations. The option to avoid XML configurations appeals to a lot of software engineers who don’t want to go through the extra steps required.

WAR files are not required

While Spring Boot can use WAR (web application resource) files, they are not necessary. Instead, Spring Boot can rely on JAR (Java resource).

JAR has a shorter, simpler structure that makes them useful for developers and users. The lightweight files work quickly to connect applications with the tools they need to function.

The option to use either WAR or JAR also benefits development teams. If someone in the group doesn’t have experience with JAR, they can rely on WAR. It might have a subtle effect on speed, but it helps developers bring their products to market as fast as possible.

POM dependency management

Spring Boot doesn’t force you to use a parent POM (project object model). Adding the spring-boot-dependencies artifact lets you manage dependencies without relying on a parent POM or XML file.

A large community of helpful users

Like many open-source tools, Spring Boot has a large community of users full of people who enjoy sharing their insights and creations.

No matter what level of experience you have with Spring’s ecosystem of products, you can find helpful tutorials and discussions online.

Another advantage of having such a large community of users is that you can often find existing code that closely resembles what you want to build.

Instead of starting from scratch, you can access the code and adjust it to meet your needs. GitHub’s Spring Boot page is always a good place to start.

Disadvantages of Spring Boot

Spring boot has a lot of valuable features that appeal to developers and users (although users rarely know why they prefer digital products created with Spring). Still, there are disadvantages to choosing Spring Boot.

Some of the most common complaints from developers include:

• Large deployment files that result from unused dependencies
• The long amount of time that it takes to replace legacy systems with Spring Boot applications
• Its inability to build large, monolithic applications (although it works extremely well for developing microservices)
• Needing to rely on the Spring ecosystem instead of using other tools that many developers find advantageous

If your developers aren’t familiar with practices that make Spring Boot useful, you can introduce them to the many online tutorials.

We recently published a blog post about some of the best practices for object-relational management (ORM) tools, including Spring Boot 2 and Hibernate 5.

What makes Spring Boot appealing to developers?

Some features of Spring Boot that make it so appealing to developers include:

• Inversion of control (IoC)
• Dependency injection (DI)
• Relying on Spring MVC to handle requests from HTTP servers
• Spring Boot auto-configuration that doesn’t require manual configuration
• Building REST API services
• Command-line interface (CLI)
• It is an easy approach to building microservices that can run alongside each other without interfering with their functionality

These advantages of Spring Boot can help any Java developer reach their goals with minimal effort.

Make sure your software engineers follow these Spring performance best practices to get the full value of Spring Boot and other assets in the Spring ecosystem.

Even a small amount of practice and learning from others can make Spring products much more effective for developers.

With all that said, you don't want to miss out on the benefits of using Spring Boot!

‍Reach out to us for more insights into how you can use Spring Boot during your next project.