Beginning Spring Framework 2

Introduction

There is a silent yet certain revolution in making the development of complex server-based systems simple. This revolution is about lightweight alternatives to vulnerable standards such as Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). It is centered around design based on Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs), the decoupling of code that handles concerns orthogonal to business logic (such as logging and transactions), and the simplification of coding, plus long-term maintenance. In the middle of this revolution is a Java framework called the Spring framework.

This book is about the Spring framework. In fact, it is an introductory text for the Spring framework. Unlike other frameworks, the Spring framework is most useful for developers who have had experience solving business problems, perhaps using legacy server frameworks such as J2EE 1.4. And unlike other introductory texts, this book is written for developers who have some Java application development experience, but who are not familiar with the use of the Spring framework.

In many ways, this is a very different technical book because we now live in a very different technical world. The availability, accessibility, and capabilities of today's network have spawned many activities and applications centered around data-driven, server-based systems. No longer can we assume that every web-based system is somehow tied to data from a mainframe computer; nor can we assume that every server-based application must carry enterprise baggage, such ...