Posts Tagged ‘SpringFramework’
[SpringIO2023] Spring Framework 6.1: Infrastructure Revisited by Juergen Hoeller
At Spring I/O 2023 in Barcelona, Juergen Hoeller, a pivotal figure in the Spring Framework, delivered an insightful session on the upcoming Spring Framework 6.1, focusing on its alignment with cutting-edge JVM innovations. Building on themes introduced in the conference keynote, Juergen explored how Spring Framework 6.1 integrates with OpenJDK’s Project Loom (virtual threads) and CRaC (Checkpoint/Restore), empowering developers to leverage these advancements for scalable, efficient applications. With Spring Framework 6.1 and Spring Boot 3.2 set for release in November 2023, this talk offered a forward-looking perspective on infrastructure enhancements already available in snapshots and slated for the first milestone in June 2023.
Modern Java and Jakarta EE Context
Juergen set the stage by outlining the Java and Jakarta EE landscape that Spring Framework 6.1 inhabits. Spring Framework 6.0 established a JDK 17 baseline, introducing language innovations like record types, sealed classes, and pattern matching, which provide a robust foundation for modern Java development. JDK 21, a long-term support release arriving in September 2023, builds on this with further enhancements, including sequence collections and virtual threads exiting preview. Spring Framework 6.1 aligns with JDK 21, enabling developers to adopt these features seamlessly. On the Jakarta EE front, Spring Framework 6.1 supports Jakarta EE 10, with plans to align with Jakarta EE 11’s anticipated JDK 21 requirement in 2024. This ensures compatibility with evolving servlet, JPA, and bean validation APIs, positioning Spring as a bridge to future Java ecosystems.
Virtual Threads: Scalability with Simplicity
A cornerstone of Juergen’s talk was Spring Framework 6.1’s integration with virtual threads, a transformative JVM feature in JDK 21. Virtual threads, lightweight and JVM-managed, allow blocking operations without tying up platform threads, enabling massive scalability with minimal resource overhead. Juergen explained that Spring’s task executor facilities, like SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor and a dedicated VirtualThreadTaskExecutor, are now virtual thread-ready. These allow developers to replace traditional thread pool configurations with virtual thread setups, requiring minimal code changes. In Spring MVC, virtual threads are configured at the servlet container level (e.g., Tomcat or Jetty), with upcoming Tomcat releases offering first-class support. For reactive stacks like Spring WebFlux, virtual threads serve as an escape hatch for integrating blocking operations, complementing the reactive model’s efficiency. Juergen emphasized that existing Spring MVC applications can achieve higher scalability or reduced memory footprints by adopting virtual threads, with no application code changes in ideal scenarios.
Checkpoint/Restore: Revolutionizing Startup Time
Juergen also delved into Spring Framework 6.1’s support for Project CRaC, which dramatically accelerates application startup through JVM snapshotting. By capturing a fully bootstrapped application state—potentially after warmup—and restoring it on demand, CRaC reduces startup times by a factor of at least 20 compared to traditional JVM bootstrapping. Spring Framework 6.1 integrates CRaC via its lifecycle model, using the 14-year-old Lifecycle interface to manage component stop and restart signals during checkpoint and restore phases. This ensures that embedded servers, message listeners, and other components pause cleanly and resume seamlessly. Juergen noted that most Spring applications are CRaC-compatible out of the box, though some components, like Tomcat adapters, require updates. Spring Boot 3.2 may introduce standard checkpoint options post-bootstrap, simplifying adoption. Currently supported by Azul’s OpenJDK and AWS Lambda SnapStart, CRaC promises significant benefits for dynamic scaling in Linux container deployments.
Practical Adoption and Future Outlook
Juergen underscored the practical readiness of these features, with Spring Framework 6.1 M1 slated for mid-June 2023 and Spring Boot 3.2 M1 for mid-July. Release candidates are planned for October, aligning with JDK 21’s September release, ensuring developers can adopt virtual threads and CRaC promptly. He encouraged experimentation, noting that benchmarking virtual threads or CRaC with existing applications is the best way to quantify benefits like scalability or reduced startup times. Looking ahead, Juergen highlighted a Spring.Next Buff session at Spring I/O for deeper discussions on these innovations. By aligning with JDK 21 and Jakarta EE 11, Spring Framework 6.1 positions developers to embrace the Java ecosystem’s future, delivering performance and efficiency without sacrificing Spring’s hallmark simplicity.
Links:
[SpringIO2019] Spring I/O 2019 Keynote: Spring Framework 5.2, Reactive Programming, Kotlin, and Coroutines
The Spring I/O 2019 Keynote, featuring Juergen Hoeller, Ben Hale, Violeta Georgieva, and Sébastien Deleuze, offered a comprehensive overview of the latest developments and future directions within the Spring ecosystem. The keynote covered significant themes, including the advancements in Spring Framework 5.2, enhancements in Reactive programming, and the growing importance of Kotlin and coroutines in Spring applications.
The keynote served as a crucial update for the Spring community, highlighting how the framework continues to evolve to meet modern application development needs, from high-performance reactive systems to seamless integration with modern languages like Kotlin.
Spring Framework 5.2 Themes
Juergen Hoeller, co-founder and project lead of the Spring Framework, presented the key themes for Spring Framework 5.2. These themes focused on refining existing capabilities and introducing new features to enhance developer experience and application performance. While specific details were covered, the overarching goal was to continue Spring’s tradition of providing a robust and flexible foundation for enterprise applications.
Improvements to Reactive: Core/UX, R2DBC, RSocket
Ben Hale and Violeta Georgieva discussed the ongoing advancements in Reactive programming within the Spring ecosystem. They highlighted improvements to the core Reactive capabilities, focusing on enhancing user experience (UX) and developer productivity. The session also delved into R2DBC (Reactive Relational Database Connectivity), a specification for reactive programming with relational databases, and RSocket, an application-level protocol for reactive stream communication. These developments underscore Spring’s commitment to building highly scalable and responsive applications.
Kotlin and Coroutines
Sébastien Deleuze focused on the deepening integration of Kotlin and coroutines within Spring. Kotlin’s concise syntax and functional programming features, combined with the power of coroutines for asynchronous programming, offer significant benefits for modern Spring applications. Deleuze demonstrated how these technologies enable developers to write more expressive, performant, and maintainable code, further solidifying Kotlin as a first-class language for Spring development.
The Evolution of the Spring Ecosystem
The keynote collectively showcased Spring’s continuous evolution, driven by innovation and community feedback. The speakers emphasized how Spring is adapting to new paradigms in software development, such as reactive programming and multi-language support, while maintaining its core principles of productivity and flexibility. The discussions provided a roadmap for developers to leverage the latest features and best practices for building next-generation applications.
Conclusion
The Spring I/O 2019 Keynote offered a compelling vision for the future of Spring, demonstrating its adaptability and continued relevance in the rapidly changing landscape of software development. Attendees gained valuable insights into key areas of focus and practical applications of the latest Spring technologies.
- Video: Spring I/O 2019 – Keynote by Juergen Hoeller Ben Hale Violeta Georgieva and Sébastien Deleuze
- Conference: Spring I/O 2019, Barcelona, May 16-17
- Speakers: Juergen Hoeller, Ben Hale, Violeta Georgieva, Sébastien Deleuze
- Sébastien Deleuze’s Spring Author Page: Sébastien Deleuze
- Companies: VMware, Broadcom
- Company Websites: VMware, Broadcom
[DevoxxBE2012] Spring 3.2 and 3.2 Themes and Trends
In a dynamic presentation, Josh Long, a prominent Spring developer advocate and author, delved into the evolving landscape of the Spring Framework. As someone deeply embedded in the Spring ecosystem, Josh highlighted how Spring continues to address modern development challenges while maintaining its core principles. He began by recapping the framework’s foundational aspects, emphasizing its role in promoting clean, extensible code without unnecessary reinvention.
Josh explained that Spring operates as a lightweight dependency injection container, layered with vertical technologies for diverse needs like mobile development, big data handling, and web applications. This decoupling from underlying infrastructure enables seamless transitions between environments, from traditional servers to cloud platforms. He noted the increasing complexity in data stores, caching solutions, and client interfaces, underscoring Spring’s relevance in today’s fragmented tech world. By focusing on dependency injection, aspect-oriented programming, and portable service abstractions, Spring empowers developers to build robust, maintainable systems.
Transitioning to recent advancements, Josh reviewed Spring 3.1, released in December 2011, which introduced features like environment profiles and Java-based configuration. These enhancements facilitate tailored bean activations across development stages, simplifying configurations that diverge between local setups and production clouds. He illustrated this with examples of data sources, showing how profiles partition configurations effectively.
Moreover, Josh discussed the caching abstraction in Spring 3.1, which provides a unified SPI for various caches like EHCache and Redis. This abstraction, combined with annotations for cache management, streamlines performance optimizations without locking developers into specific implementations.
Core Refinements in Spring 3.2
Shifting focus to Spring 3.2, slated for release by year’s end, Josh outlined its core refinements. Building on Java 7, it incorporates asynchronous support from Servlet 3.0, enabling efficient handling of long-running tasks in web applications. He demonstrated this with controller methods returning Callable or DeferredResult, allowing requests and responses to process in separate threads, enhancing scalability.
Josh also introduced the Spring MVC Test Framework, a tool for unit testing controllers with mocked servlet APIs. This framework, revamped for 3.2, integrates seamlessly with existing test contexts, promoting better code quality through isolated testing.
Additionally, upgrades to the Spring Expression Language (SpEL) and backported features from 3.1.x bolster the framework’s expressiveness and compatibility. Josh emphasized that these changes maintain Spring’s low-risk upgrade path, ensuring stability for enterprise adopters.
Looking Ahead to Spring 3.3
Josh then previewed Spring 3.3, expected in late 2013, which promises substantial innovations. Central to this release is support for Java SE 8 features, including lambdas, which align naturally with Spring’s single abstract method interfaces. He showcased how lambdas simplify callbacks in components like JdbcTemplate, reducing boilerplate code.
Furthermore, Josh touched on enhanced Groovy support and the integration of the Grails Bean Builder, expanding Spring’s appeal for dynamic languages. The release will also track Java EE 7 APIs, such as JCache 1.0 and JMS 2.0, with annotation-centric endpoints for message-driven architectures.
WebSocket support, crucial for real-time web applications, will be fully integrated into Spring MVC, complementing existing messaging capabilities in Spring Integration.
Strategic Motivations and Community Impact
Throughout his talk, Josh articulated the motivations behind Spring’s shorter release cycles, aiming to deliver timely features without overwhelming users. He stressed the framework’s alignment with emerging standards, positioning it as a bridge between Java SE 7/8 and EE 7.
Josh also shared insights into community contributions, mentioning the GitHub-based model and Gradle builds that foster collaboration. He encouraged feedback, highlighting his role in curating community resources like the weekly roundup on springsource.org.
In closing, Josh fielded questions on topics like bean metadata navigation and conditional caching, reinforcing Spring’s commitment to developer productivity. His enthusiasm underscored Spring’s enduring value in navigating the complexities of modern software engineering.