Java Frameworks and Components

Simon P. Chappell writes "Life is busy enough without writing your own infrastructure code. With all of the high-quality frameworks available today, it's no longer necessary to even think about writing low-level code (except as a technical exercise, or to express your inner geek :-) Our problem today, is to review and select the best available framework for our needs. This is a non-trivial task, but help is at hand with Java Frameworks and Components by Michael Nash." Read on for the rest of Chappell's review. Java Frameworks and Components: Accelerate Your Web Application Development author Michael Nash pages 477 (14 page index) publisher Cambridge University Press rating 9 reviewer Simon P. Chappell ISBN 0521520592 summary A tour de force! With only one quibble, this is the definitive work on Web Application Frameworks. Overview This book is a superb exploration of the current state of the web application development framework market. Both commercial and open-source/free frameworks are examined in detail.

The book works through a logical progression, starting with a discussion of what a framework is (and, of course, what it isn't) before moving on to an examination of the benefits that they bring to development efforts. The meat of the book is in the next couple of chapters where a framework (no pun intended) is explored to select and compare frameworks. A list of current frameworks is given, each being described, with strengths and weaknesses highlighted.

The trailing chapters cover aspects of development that are affected by the use of frameworks, including the obvious ones like IDE support and methodologies.

What's To Like The aspect that most impressed me was the depth of research that has obviously gone into this book. I think most of us know that frameworks are good, and a reasonable number of us could list several reasons why they are good, but I suspect that very few of us could generate such a comprehensive and cogent rationale for using a framework.

The information density in this book is quite high. Normally, I read technical books quite quickly, but this one took a while, because every good point prompted much thought and consideration. This was impressive to me after seeing so many books coming to the market that have simplification as their rationale for existence. The selection of an appropriate framework for web application development is not a simple task and this book takes it very seriously.

While non-free frameworks might be a non-issue for some of the Slashdot crowd, those of us working in corporate I.S. have to be very aware of the differences and our local management's attitudes concerning it. The book does come out strongly in favour of open-source and free software, but does not let this bind the discussion in any way. Commercial and free software are judged equally and fairly throughout.

Pragmatic is a much over-used word these days, but I would describe this book as pragmatic. The advice given concerning framework selection, urged people to consider many factors, including existing frameworks used in-house, the type of project, the degree of accordance between the services provided by the framework and the requirements for the system being written. I have seen many a framework selected because it was buzzword compliant, so this advice was a refreshing change.

What's To Consider

After enjoying the book, to reach the case studies and be disappointed was, well, disappointing. The case studies seemed rushed and lacking in substance. The idea of comparing and contrasting the four leading frameworks to solve the same problem was a good one, but somehow it didn't quite come off. The Struts case study got to me the most: I have conniptions everytime I see business logic in actions! Perhaps the case studies could be dropped in a future edition?

Summary

A tour de force! With only one quibble, this is the definitive work on Web application frameworks.

Table Of Contents

1. Components and Application Frameworks
2. Components: The Future of Web-Application Development
3. Application Frameworks: What Do They Provide and What Are the Benefits?
4. Choosing an Application Framework
5. A Catalog of Application Frameworks
6. Comparing Frameworks
7. Open Source and Components/Frameworks
8. Development Methodologies and Design Patterns
9. Integrated Development Environments
10. Strategies for Using Frameworks: Best Practices
11. Conclusions: The Future of Frameworks and Components
Appendix. Case Studies

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Comments

Case Studies

[krulgar]

Case Studies (as in this case) always seem to come at the end of the book. If they were really analyzed they'd be earlier. Too often this is the author's response to the publisher's request for 80 more pages.

Re:Yeah Frameworks are Great

[j3110]

We are talking about Java here. I could just use web-start. It's quite nice.

I spent 1 month looking at all the enterprise level technologies out there (You know... anything with distributed transactions, RMI of some sort, and security infrastructure). I spent 3 months learning J2EE. I spent 3 months looking at different frameworks. I eventually decided to go Web-Start. I really really wished there were books that compare the technologies out there based on performance, popularity (increases the number of jobs you can work at and the number of employees you can pick from), and time to completion (ease of use). Java almost has too much choice.

Here are some questions that should make my point.

How do you want to access your data?
JDBC, JDO, Hibernate, CMP, or some weird object-database?

What reporting package do you want to use?
Custom (using iText, FOP, or just plain AWT to the printer?)
JasperReports
JFreeReports
or one of the plethora of commercial packages?

What kind of client do you want?
HTTP, Web-Start, Standalone, or SOAP to Mozilla or .Net or Perl or etc. ?

If you go HTTP, what web framework do you want to use?
JSP/Servlets directly, Struts, WebWork, or some conjured up Velocity template?

If you go Web-Start or Standalon, what GUI TK do you want to use?
SWT, Swing, Thinlet, Luxor, Swixml, AWT (for 1.1 compatibility), etc.

Do you want MiddleWare? What kind?
Session Beans, Message Beans, Message queue's and some custom apps... with or without SOAP? Would you like a nice XML-RPC to go with that? Maybe you want something a bit more network centered like Jini? Maybe you have to work with some old CORBA software.

Oh, BTW, what operating system do you want to run it on? (Linux, Mac, BSD, Unix) What application server? (JBoss, Jonas, Pramati, WebSphere, WebLogic, SunONE, JRun, Resin) What database server? (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, DB2, McKoi, Hypersonic, Firebird, MS SQL) What JVM? (SUN, IBM, JRocket) Do you need charting for your reports? (JFreeCharts, bah... just search google for java charting)

My head hurts now, and I want to cry. When someone ends the madness, please wake me up and tell me what year it is, and which packages I should use, because if I look at them all, by the time I'm done, I'll have to start all over.