This article is provided with the courtesy of Discreet-Geek.Com.
When it comes to Java you hear the word framework used often, a framework is basically an encapsulated way to do something, wrapped up in one or more libraries.
There are many Java frameworks including Struts, Spring, and Hibernate.Struts is a framework built to help manage the UI portion of web application. This UI portion includes the request and response objects being sent to and from the webserver, as well as the session. The most difficult part of understanding struts is realizing how the action and form classes interact with each other based on the XML found in struts config file. This framework also offers a collection of tag libraries that are used to eliminate JSP from the JSP pages, and encapsulate the Java code inside tag library classes.
The Spring framework is probably the most recent of the frameworks mentioned here. It is based on dependency injection and a method of programming called Aspect Oriented Programming. The most difficult part of learning the Spring framework is getting your mind around this new programming method. When the application is first run most of the constructor properties for some of the main objects in the application are configured in the Spring XML file. The Aspect Oriented Programming strategy can be very quickly summed up by saying that all of the child objects get instantiated first then are injected into the parent object, thus, dependency injection. I personally have not yet embraced aspect oriented programming and if heard other developers claim that it's a step back from progress in the programming field due to a similarity to the archaic procedural programming ways.
The Hibernate framework is a framework by which business objects get populated from a database via a configuration XML file. The most difficult part about programming with Hibernate is correctly configuring the Hibernate session and, if you're working in a database that does not enforce relationships, correctly configuring the XML to describe their relationships between the tables. Once the configuration is correctly in place, Hibernate is a fantastic framework to program with.
There are countless other frameworks that I have not mentioned throughout the Java programming language most of you have probably programmed some kind of framework by now if you had any experience in programming. The ones that seem to surface to the eyes of the world are usually, from my experience, the ones we should pay attention to. A good framework can save a programmer a lot of time and a lot of stress.
Epiphanies abound,
-Tyler
An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something....illluminates a deeper or numinous foundational frame of reference.