Please recommend a good Java framework for web development

Question

Hi all,

I am new to Java framework.

I am looking for a good Java framework to help me build a JSP web site.

I googled for Java framework and it returned a few related terms for me:
struts, Cocoon, WebWork.

I have no clue which of them is for beginning learner.
Do I need to download netBean or eclipse to work along with any of these Java Framework?
I need an auto-complete tool that helps when typing hundreds of lines of code.

Please advise and help.

Thanks

Edited reason,

I have just found out that netBean has got Struts Java framework, what do you think of it?
Is it good for beginning learner?

Answer 1

Very much depends on your concrete needs but I'd invest some time into looking at Spring. It is a really great and flexible framework that promotes best practices.

I admit it will be a bit difficult to understand initially, especially if you're a beginner. But if you're willing to learn it's real fun. For using Spring framework you can use any arbitrary IDE, it really doesn't matter, although personally I prefer the Eclipse IDE, in this special case the Edition for Java EE developers.

Answer 2

As Juri said, Spring is worth looking at. For the specifics of web development, take a look at the Spring MVC tutorial.

Answer 3

The Play framework makes it easier to build Web applications with Java. I havn't tried it though, but I feel it's "with" the present day web-dev framework ecosystem. It seems inspired by Rails.

Answer 4

You can also take a look at Spring Roo. It allows you work with Spring in a very lightweight fashion. In terms of ease of use this seems on par with Play framework or even better (due to tools support). Spring itself is a very established application framework and you are very likely to work with it during your professional career.

Answer 5

Spring is pretty good. Struts is another framework with a pretty easier learning curve IMO.

Answer 6

Although I'm spring user, I would encourage you to look at JBoss Seam. This framework is built on top of other powerful technologies, such as JPA, EJB3 and JSF. You will spent some time learning it of course. And keep in mind, that in order to run its applications, you will need java EE server such as JBoss, not an ordinary servlet container like Tomcat (actually you can run Seam on Tomcat, but you will get into some problems). And java EE hosting costs usually ~two times as much as Tomcat hosting. Here is the comparison of Spring and Seam: http://www.andygibson.net/articles/seam_spring_comparison Just google seam vs spring if you want more details.

Answer 7

@kwokwai: I have seen your comment on @Juri post.

Spring IDE would be helpful if you plan to choose Spring for your application.

Answer 8

Grails is my favorite. While it's not Java the language, it's Java the platform. It compiles to Java bytecode and runs on any appserver / servlet engine. And integrates well with existing Java code. Grails is more than just a web framework, it's a complete web application stack. But you can use only the web part if you like.

Grails really brings speed of development known to e.g. Rails to the Java platform.

During development, you can edit your controllers and services, and just hit reload in the browser, no redeploy needed (as you also can in The Play framework). Tag libraries are really easy to create. And being able to write Groovy code rather than EL in the views (GSP, Grails' variant of JSP) is really powerful.

Answer 9

I would recommend Apache Wicket, its very easy, no XML-Configuration-OVerhead. Just have a look a the examples on the website.