Difference Between JavaEE and Spring

JavaEE or J2EE also known as Java Enterprise Edition. J2EE Version 1.2 was developed as the first Enterprise specification in December 1999. In the year 2005 Sun renamed the Java Platform by dropping the name J2EE. Its core component is EJBs (Enterprise Java Beans) which is followed by JSP (Java Server Pages). This platform includes JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity) for databases. It is originally developed by Sun, which is acquired in 2010 by Oracle. These services performed between the user’s machine and the enterprise’s databases in the middle tier.

Advantages of J2EE

• J2EE applications are reliable, secure, and scalable.
• If you know J2SE then easy to learn.
• Operates on multiple platforms.
• Cross-platform portability.
• It handles complex and high-transaction applications.
• It has a proven track record.

Disadvantages of J2EE

• Complex application development environment.
• It may cost more to develop, deploy, and manage applications.
• It lacks built-in support for Web services standards.
• Lots of specifications so require deep learning for J2EE.
• It is complex but flexible.

Spring on other hand is the application development framework for JavaEE. It’s an open-source Java Platform which provides supports to Java for developing robust Java application very smoothly and easily. It is written by Rod Johnson in June 2003. The size of the spring is lightweight and the basic version of the Spring framework is about 2MB. The core feature of the Spring framework is developing any Java application and this targets to make J2EE development easier to use. It enables developers to develop enterprise-class applications using POJO (Plain Old Java Object).

Advantages of Spring

• Uses POJO, don’t need an enterprise container like an application server.
• Provides Modularity to developers.
• Consistency of Transaction Management.
• Well- Designed Web Framework.
• It can effectively organize middle-tier objects
• Spring application code is much easier to unit test.

Disadvantages of Spring

• Complex and it lacks a clear focus.
• Quite difficult to learn Spring Framework for a new developer.
• Lots of XML in Spring.
• No clear guidelines on several topics on spring documentation.
• Longer Configuration

The primary difference between JavaEE and Spring is as follows: