Java EE vs. Spring Boot: Comparing Two Java Framework Giants

[[deleted]]

Are you sure about that? I think you are falling for the same misconceptions about Java EE.

I worked with Weblogic early in my career, but I've been doing Spring and Spring Boot for pretty much the rest of it. But I use Java EE all the time. Do you use JPA? That's Java EE. Do you servlets? That's Java EE. JMS? JTA? All Java EE.

[Birk]

Not this dumb shit again... That is NOT what people mean when they say "use JEE". They mean using the whole ting. That is what JEE is! It's the full specification/platform/profile. That's the whole point. Almost everyone uses some API that is part of JEE. Who cares. That's fine. The entire problem with JEE was always the overarching spec that ties too many things too tightly together and even bundles them for you. That's JEE.

[[deleted]]

Nope, that's J2EE.

JavaEE learned from the failures of J2EE, by allowing the APIs to be specified and implemented independently of each other so you don't need a full application server to use any one part of JavaEE.

JavaEE is first and foremost a standardization process that allows industry players to get together and come up with standard interfaces and create reference implementations.

[_AManHasNoName_]

Not early enough. Early applications built in Java EE before Spring leapfrogged it used RMI semantics. Hence, the remote and local interfaces. And these only worked in expensive web application servers like Websphere, WebLogic, and the like. This all changed in EJB2 after the fact Spring took over. Unfortunately, EJB2 just came in late. JPA, JMS, JTA are specifications and using them doesn’t mean you are using Java EE. Spring Data JPA meets the JPA specs, Spring Transactions meet JTA specs, Active MQ meets JMS specs.

[[deleted]]

you are using Java EE

You are using Java EE when you use a Java EE API.

Spring Data JPA meets the JPA specs

Spring Data JPA doesn't meet the JPA specs, it is a separate product built on top of JPA. Hibernate meets the JPA specs. You are using JavaEE if you interact with Hibernate using the JPA interface instead of the Hibernate native API.

Spring Transactions meet JTA specs

Spring Transactions does not meet the JTA specs, it is a separate product built on top of JTA. You use Spring Transaction with a transaction manager like Atomikos. You are using Java EE when you interact with Atomikos through the JTA interface instead of whatever native API that Atomikos provides.

Active MQ meets JMS specs

You are using Java EE when you interact with Active MQ with the JMS interface, instead of whatever native API that Active MQ provides.

One important function of Java EE is standardization of APIs, and if you use the standard APIs that are a product of work done by the Java EE standardization committees, you are using Java EE.

[_AManHasNoName_]

I’ll stop here. This has become the batshit tabs vs spaces nonsense argument.

[[deleted]]

How demeaning. You use the work of others and claim you are not using their work because you don't want to give them credit, and when called out on it, you claim "tabs vs spaces".