comparing jvm web frameworks - february 2014
DESCRIPTION
My Comparing JVM Web Frameworks talk as presented at Denver's Open Source User Group (@dosug) and vJUG (@virtualjug). Covers the history of web frameworks as well as various methods for choosing one. Video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygW8fJVlDxQ.TRANSCRIPT
COMPARING JVM WEB FRAMEWORKS
Matt Raible http://raibledesigns.com @mraible
© 2013 Raible DesignsPhotos by Trish McGinity © 2014 Raible Designs
© 2014 Raible Designs
Blogger on raibledesigns.com
Founder of AppFuse
Father, Skier, Cyclist
Web Framework Connoisseur
Who is Matt Raible?
Bus Lover
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‣ History of JVM Web Frameworks ‣ The Paradox of Choice ‣ Methods and Metrics ‣ Conclusion ‣ Q and A
Session Agenda
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History of Web Frameworks
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History of Web Frameworks
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History of Web Frameworks
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Comparing Web Frameworks
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History of Web Frameworks
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History of Web Frameworks
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2007
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History of Web Frameworks
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Today
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Too many web frameworks?
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Remember SOFEA?
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SOFEA became a Reality
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SOFEA Performance Issues
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traditional web frameworks are still relevant
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The Paradox of Choice
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Good Decisions Involve
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1. Figure out your goal or goals
2. Evaluate the importance of each goal
3. Array the options
4. Evaluate how likely each of the options is to meet your goals
5. Pick the winning option
6. Modify goals
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Maximizer vs. Satisficer
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‣ maximizer - tries to make best possible choice ‣ satisficer - tries to find first suitable choice
(Photo: Tori Cat at Flickr)
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How do you choose?
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The Real Problem
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The Real Problem
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The Real Problem
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‣ 2006: Choose based on the type of app you’re developing ‣ 2010: Choose based on 20 different criteria (the Matrix) ‣ 2013: Narrowed it to 6
- Community / Support
- HTML5
- REST
- Mobile
- Performance
- Page Speed�27
How to Constrain Choices
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‣ Language ‣ Platform ‣ Application Type
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Predetermined Constraints
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Choose the JVM
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Get Fast Hardware
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IntelliJ
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Goals
‣ Pure Web Frameworks ‣ Full Stack Frameworks ‣ SOFEA Frameworks
- API Frameworks
- JavaScript MVC Frameworks
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Full Stack Frameworks
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API Frameworks
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JavaScript MVC Frameworks
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JavaScript MVC Frameworks
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Pure JVM Web Frameworks
‣ Apache: Wicket, Struts, Sling, Tapestry, Click ‣ GWT: SmartGWT, GXT, Vaadin, Errai ‣ JSF: Mojarra (RI), MyFaces, Tomahawk, IceFaces, RichFaces,
PrimeFaces ‣ Spring MVC, Stripes, RIFE, ZK
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_application_frameworks#Java
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Frameworks I’ve Used
‣ Apache: Wicket, Struts, Sling, Tapestry, Click ‣ GWT: SmartGWT, GXT, Vaadin, Errai ‣ JSF: Mojarra, MyFaces, Tomahawk, IceFaces, RichFaces,
PrimeFaces ‣ Spring MVC, Stripes, RIFE, ZK
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http://bit.ly/jvm-frameworks-matrix
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Comparison Matrix
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Matrix Results
0
4.5
9
13.5
18
Grail
s
Sprin
g
Rails
GWT
Vaad
inTa
pestr
yW
icket
Stru
ts 2
Play
Strip
es JSF
Flex Lift
11.513.5141414.514.51515.515.5
17171717.5
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Matrix Results
‣ Grails (17.5) ‣ GWT (17) ‣ Ruby on Rails (17) ‣ Spring MVC (17) ‣ Vaadin and Tapestry (15.5) ‣ Wicket (15)
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Weighted Matrix
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Weighted Results
‣ Grails (90) ‣ Play (87.5) ‣ Spring MVC (85) ‣ Ruby on Rails (82.5) ‣ Vaadin (82.5) ‣ GWT (80)
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‣ Developer Productivity: Lift gets a 11, Rails gets a 5, most Java-based frameworks get a 1 or less.
‣ Developer Perception: Every web framework gets a 1. ‣ Learning Curve: Lift gets a 2. ‣ Job Trends, yep, it's zero.
http://lift.la/my-take-on-matt-raibles-spreadsheet
* Matt's scale is 0-1 and my ratings are on Matt's scale, except mine goes to 11.
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David Pollack’s Lift Ratings
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Peter Thomas’s Perfbench
‣ Seam / JSF vs. Wicket Performance Comparison
- January 2009: Seam 2.1.1 and Wicket 1.3.5
- Average page response time in milliseconds
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Peter Thomas’s Perfbench
‣ On the Seam / JSF side, the 20 sessions each take up about 800 KB adding up to around 16 MB total. On the Wicket side the 20 sessions add up to around 1.5 MB.
!
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‣ + Lots of banter between Peter and Seam developers @ http://bit.ly/3X50Gc
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Peter Thomas’s Perfbench
‣ Added Tapestry 5 and Grails in September 2009:
- Grails was far more productive than Tapestry 5.
- Grails still has some ways to go in terms of performance.
- Overall, Wicket is fastest, with Tapestry coming a close second.
- Wicket takes up the least amount of heap.
- Session usage of the Seam + JSF combination is significantly higher compared to the rest.
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World Wide Wait - Devoxx
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http://www.parleys.com/d/2942
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World Wide Wait - Devoxx
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World Wide Wait - Devoxx
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World Wide Wait - Devoxx
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World Wide Wait - Devoxx
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devrates.com - by rating
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devrates.com - popular
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developer productivity report
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web frameworks comparison
‣ Rapid Prototyping: Grails and Play ‣ Framework Complexity: Vaadin, GWT and Struts ‣ Ease of Use: Grails and Vaadin ‣ Documentation & Community: Grails and Vaadin ‣ Throughput/Scalability: Play ‣ UX, Look and Feel: Vaadin and GWT ‣ http://bit.ly/1eP5Jgq
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decision makers guide
“If you are going to choose one framework to rule them all, then we recommend Vaadin, Grails or Play as our top 3 choices, but if you want to synergize (ooh, 90s buzz word!) the benefits of multiple frameworks, then Spring plus nearly any other framework we covered (especially GWT, which saw the greatest gains) will yield the best results.” — http://bit.ly/1emanaA
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ThoughtWorks Technology Radar 2014
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ThoughtWorks on JSF
http://www.thoughtworks.com/radar/#/languages-and-frameworks/683
“We continue to see teams run into trouble using JSF -- JavaServer Faces -- and are recommending you avoid this technology.”
“We think JSF is flawed because it tries to abstract away HTML, CSS and HTTP, exactly the reverse of what modern web frameworks do.”
“We are aware of the improvements in JSF 2.0, but think the model is fundamentally broken.”
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Top JVM Frameworks
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‣ Raible Matrix: Grails, GWT, Rails, Spring MVC
- Weighted: Grails, Play, Spring MVC, Rails, Vaadin
‣ Peter Thomas: Wicket ‣ InfoQ: Spring MVC, Play, Grails, JSF, Struts ‣ devrates.com:
- Grails, PrimeFaces, Vaadin, Tapestry, Rails
‣ RebelLabs: Vaadin, Play, Grails, Spring MVC
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Raible’s Recommendations
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‣ Full Stack: Choose by language (Ruby, Groovy, Java, or Scala) ‣ Pure Web Framework: Spring MVC, Struts 2, Tapestry, Wicket, or
Vaadin ‣ JavaScript MVC: Angular JS, Ember, or Backbone ‣ API Framework: Dropwizard or Spring Boot
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The Problem with GWT
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Comparison Statistics
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‣ Elimination Criteria
- At least 1 release in 2013
- At least 1 book on Amazon
- At least 10 jobs on dice.com
- At least 250 questions on Stack Overflow
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Jobs on Dice.comFull Stack Frameworks, February 2014
0
75
150
225
300
Grails
JRub
y on R
ails Play Lift
Sprin
g Roo
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Jobs on Dice.comPure Web Frameworks, February 2014
0
150
300
450
600
Sprin
g MVC
Strut
s 2
Wick
et
Prim
eFac
es
Vaad
in
Tape
stry
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Jobs on Dice.comJavaScript MVC Frameworks, February 2014
0
125
250
375
500
Back
bone
Angu
lar
Embe
r
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Jobs on Dice.comJavaScript MVC Frameworks, March 2013
0
75
150
225
300
Back
bone
Angu
lar
Embe
r
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Jobs on Dice.comJVM API Frameworks, February 2014
0
150
300
450
600
Jerse
y
Apac
he C
XF
REST
Easy
vert.x
Dropwiza
rd
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LinkedIn SkillsFull Stack Frameworks, February 2014
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
Grails
Play
Sprin
g Roo
JRub
y on R
ails Lift
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LinkedIn SkillsPure Web Frameworks, February 2014
0
5,500
11,000
16,500
22,000
Sprin
g MVC
Prim
eFac
es
Strut
s 2
Wick
et
Vaad
in
Tape
stry
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LinkedIn SkillsJavaScript MVC Frameworks, February 2014
0
7,500
15,000
22,500
30,000
Back
bone
Angu
lar
Embe
r
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LinkedIn SkillsJVM API Frameworks, February 2014
0
12,500
25,000
37,500
50,000
Jerse
y
Apac
he C
XF
REST
Easy
Dropwiza
rd
vert.x
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Google Trends
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Google Trends
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Google Trends
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Google Trends
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Indeed Job Trends
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Indeed Job Trends
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Indeed Job Trends
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Indeed Job Trends
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January 2014
AngularJSPlay
GrailsJerseyWicket
LiftApache CXF
TapestryDropwizard
StrutsBackbone.js
0 300 600 900 1200
42107
135238
336361
549590
706794
1152
* Frameworks not listed here use Forums, which don’t provide this data.
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Mailing List Traffic
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StackOverflow
0
4,000
8,000
12,000
16,000
Grails Play Lift Spring Roo JRuby on Rails
Tagged Questions (February 3, 2014)
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StackOverflow
0
4,000
8,000
12,000
16,000
Spring MVC PrimeFaces Struts 2 Wicket Vaadin Tapestry
Tagged Questions (February 3, 2014)
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StackOverflow
0
6,000
12,000
18,000
24,000
Backbone.js Angular JS Ember.js
Tagged Questions (February 3, 2014)
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StackOverflow
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
Jersey Apache CXF RESTEasy Dropwizard Spring Boot vert.x
Tagged Questions (February 3, 2014)
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Java Developers
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“Java remains – in spite of the fragmented programming language landscape – a viable, growing language.”
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2012/02/08/language-rankings-2-2012/
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Modern Principles
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The Modern JVM Web Developer
‣ Starts with Fast Hardware ‣ Uses IntelliJ IDEA ‣ Leverages JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 ‣ Creates High Performance Web Sites ‣ For Mobile Devices ‣ In the Cloud ‣ And cares about Security
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Developer Productivity
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http://zeroturnaround.com/blog/ developer-productivity-report-part-1-developer-timesheet/
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Developer Productivity
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http://zeroturnaround.com/blog/ developer-productivity-report-part-3-developer-efficiency/
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There is no “best” framework
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Just lots of awesome choices...
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Don’t listen to me!
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Choose your own!
‣ Prioritize a list of goals that are important to your application. ‣ Pick 3-4 frameworks and do a spike with each, developing the
same application. ‣ Document and rank each framework against your list of goals. ‣ Calculate and choose! ‣ Don’t be a Picker.
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Questions?Contact Me!
http://raibledesigns.com
@mraible
Presentationshttp://slideshare.net/mraible
Codehttp://github.com/mraible