Spring Tutorials

Spring Framework Tutorials Roadmap

Section 1: Introduction to Enterprise Java and the Spring Framework Basics

  • What is Enterprise Java?
    • Understanding the challenges of building large-scale, distributed, and robust applications.
    • Brief overview of traditional Java EE (now Jakarta EE).
  • What is the Spring Framework?
    • A powerful open-source framework for building enterprise-level Java applications.
    • Provides infrastructure support, allowing developers to focus on business logic.
    • Based on the principle of Inversion of Control (IoC) and Dependency Injection (DI).
  • Why Learn Spring?
    • Simplifies enterprise Java development.
    • Promotes loose coupling and testability.
    • Comprehensive ecosystem (Spring Boot, Spring Data, Spring Security, etc.).
    • Widely adopted in the industry.
    • Supports various architectural styles (monoliths, microservices).
  • Understanding Core Concepts:
    • Inversion of Control (IoC): The framework controls object creation and dependencies.
    • Dependency Injection (DI): Providing dependencies to objects instead of objects creating them.
    • Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP): Separating cross-cutting concerns (logging, security, transactions).
  • Setting up Your Development Environment:
    • Installing Java Development Kit (JDK).
    • Installing a Build Tool (Maven or Gradle).
    • Using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) (Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code with Java extensions).
    • Creating a basic Spring project (using Spring Initializr is highly recommended).
  • Your First Spring Application:
    • Creating a simple class.
    • Defining dependencies.
    • Configuring the Spring Container (using XML or Java configuration).
    • Getting beans from the container.

Section 2: Spring Core - IoC Container and Dependency Injection

  • The Spring IoC Container:
    • Understanding BeanFactory and ApplicationContext.
    • Loading the configuration.
    • Life cycle of the container.
  • Dependency Injection Mechanisms:
    • Constructor Injection: Injecting dependencies through constructors.
    • Setter Injection: Injecting dependencies through setter methods.
    • Field Injection (less recommended but common): Injecting dependencies directly into fields.
  • Configuration Styles:
    • XML-based Configuration: Defining beans and dependencies in XML files.
    • Annotation-based Configuration: Using annotations (@Component, @Autowired, @Qualifier, @Value).
    • Java-based Configuration: Using Java classes and methods to define beans (@Configuration, @Bean).
  • Bean Scopes:
    • singleton (default).
    • prototype.
    • request, session, application (web scopes).
  • Bean Life Cycle:
    • Instantiation, population of properties, initialization, destruction.
    • Using initialization and destruction callbacks (@PostConstruct, @PreDestroy).

Section 3: Spring AOP - Aspect-Oriented Programming

  • Understanding AOP Concepts:
    • Aspects, Join Points, Advice, Pointcuts, Weaving.
    • Why use AOP (cross-cutting concerns).
  • Implementing AOP with Spring:
    • Using AspectJ annotations (@Aspect, @Before, @After, @Around, @AfterReturning, @AfterThrowing).
    • Defining Pointcuts.

Section 4: Spring JDBC and Data Access

  • Introduction to Data Access with Spring.
  • Spring JDBC Core:
    • Understanding the JdbcTemplate.
    • Performing CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations.
    • Handling exceptions.
    • Working with RowMappers.
  • Transaction Management:
    • Understanding transactions.
    • Declarative transaction management using @Transactional.
    • Programmatic transaction management.
  • Integrating with ORM Frameworks (brief introduction):
    • Hibernate.
    • JPA (Java Persistence API).

Section 5: Spring MVC - Building Web Applications

  • Introduction to Web Development with Spring.
  • Understanding the Model-View-Controller (MVC) Pattern.
  • The Spring MVC Architecture:
    • DispatcherServlet.
    • Handler Mapping.
    • Controller.
    • View Resolver.
    • View.
  • Creating Controllers:
    • Using @Controller and @RequestMapping.
    • Handling different HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
  • Handling Request Parameters and Path Variables:
    • @RequestParam, @PathVariable.
  • Working with Forms:
    • Binding form data to objects.
    • Validation.
  • Returning Views:
    • Configuring View Resolvers.
    • Using different view technologies (JSP, Thymeleaf, FreeMarker).
  • Handling Exceptions in Spring MVC.

Section 6: Spring Boot - Rapid Application Development

  • Introduction to Spring Boot:
    • Simplifying Spring application development.
    • Opinionated approach.
    • Auto-configuration.
    • Embedded servers.
  • Creating a Spring Boot Project (using Spring Initializr).
  • Understanding Auto-configuration.
  • Spring Boot Starters:
    • Dependencies for common functionalities (web, data, testing).
  • Running a Spring Boot Application.
  • Externalized Configuration (application.properties/application.yml).
  • Spring Boot Actuator (Monitoring and Management).
  • Spring Boot DevTools (Developer productivity).

Section 7: Spring Data - Simplified Data Access

  • Introduction to Spring Data.
  • Spring Data JPA:
    • Simplifying JPA-based data access.
    • Creating Repositories (JpaRepository).
    • Defining query methods based on method names.
    • Using @Query annotation for custom queries.
  • Spring Data JDBC (alternative to JPA).
  • Introduction to other Spring Data projects (e.g., Spring Data MongoDB, Spring Data Redis) - brief overview.

Section 8: Spring Security - Securing Your Applications

  • Introduction to Application Security.
  • Understanding Authentication and Authorization.
  • Basic Spring Security Configuration:
    • Adding the Spring Security dependency.
    • Default security setup in Spring Boot.
  • Configuring Authentication:
    • In-memory authentication.
    • Database authentication.
    • LDAP authentication.
  • Configuring Authorization:
    • URL-based authorization.
    • Method-based authorization (@PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize).
  • Working with Spring Security in Web Applications (Login forms, logout).

Section 9: Building RESTful APIs with Spring

  • Introduction to RESTful Services.
  • Creating REST Controllers:
    • Using @RestController.
    • Using @GetMapping, @PostMapping, etc.
  • Returning JSON/XML Responses (using @ResponseBody or @RestController).
  • Handling Request Bodies (@RequestBody).
  • Designing RESTful endpoints.
  • Versioning REST APIs.
  • Error Handling in REST APIs.

Section 10: Testing Spring Applications

  • Introduction to Testing in Spring.
  • Unit Testing with Mocking (Mockito).
  • Integration Testing with Spring Test:
    • Using @RunWith(SpringRunner.class) or @ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class).
    • @SpringBootTest for Spring Boot applications.
    • Testing controllers (MockMvc).
    • Testing data access layers.

Section 11: Advanced Spring Concepts (Optional)

  • Spring Messaging (JMS, AMQP, Kafka).
  • Spring Integration (Enterprise Integration Patterns).
  • Spring Batch (Batch Processing).
  • Spring Cloud (Microservices development).
  • Caching with Spring.
  • Internationalization (i18n).

Section 12: Case Studies and Practice

  • Building real-world applications using the Spring ecosystem.
  • Implementing common enterprise patterns.
  • Contributing to open-source Spring projects (advanced).

Section 13: Further Learning and Community

  • Official Spring Documentation (spring.io/docs).
  • Spring Guides (guides.spring.io).
  • Spring Blog and News.
  • Online Courses and Specializations in Spring (Coursera, edX, Udemy, Pluralsight).
  • Books on Spring Framework and Spring Boot.
  • Participating in Community Forums (Stack Overflow, Reddit r/spring).
  • Attending Conferences and Meetups (SpringOne).
  • Exploring Open-Source Spring Projects on GitHub.
  • Staying updated with new features and releases.