Traditional Java enterprise application development required developers to write the boilerplate code. The Spring Framework simplified Java enterprise application development with DI and POJO-based approach to developing applications. No wonder, Spring Framework has become the most popular platform for developing applications.
Spring Framework simplifies developing enterprise applications using standard technologies, like JPA, Hibernate, JDBC, Flex, JavaMail, JMS, and so on. Still, you need to write some generic configuration and generic code which can be generated by a tool. Let's look at a few examples:
1. If you write a class, you normally override the toString method
2. If you write a JPA entity class, then you provide getter/setters methods for persistent fields, method to obtain reference to EntityManager, create persistence.xml, and so on.
3. When using Spring Web MVC, you need to configure handler mappings, create controller classes corresponding to JPA entities, create JSP views, and so on.
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And the list goes on and on, depending upon the technology or framework that you are using. If all these generic configurations and code are generated and managed by a development tool, developers will be more productive. And, if the code generated follows best practices of development, then you don't need to even worry about incorporating best practices in your application architecture. This is where Spring Roo comes as the next generation productivity improvement tool.
Spring Roo generates generic configurations and code to help developers focus on writing the business logic. There are no runtime dependencies of application on Spring Roo, and you can easily modify the Roo-generated code by using Push-in refactoring. So, even though you are using a productivity improvement tool, you have full control over modifying the generated code, and you don't need to learn any new language or frameworks to do so. If you know Spring, you can easily get started with using Spring Roo effectively. Spring Roo truely defines the future of enterprise Java application development.
