Can someone explain what Java EE really means? I tried to parse the bundle and license the last time this came up, and I didn't really get anywhere.
[0] http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/api/javax/persistence/packag... / http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/javax/sql/package-s...
[1] https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/api/javax/servlet/package-s...
[2] http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javaee/jsp/index.html
It's no different than Web standards between browsers, it's a collection of API specifications describing how web applications should be architectured in Java. Then different libraries can follow the spec. JavaEE also has a reference implementation which used to be done by Sun/Oracle.
The problem with JavaEE is, by being too broad and generic, it is incredibly complex and often fails to solve today's developers problems. I mean who cares about JSF(java server face, a way to describe "HTML GUI widgets" in XML) when most applications use a RESTful architecture? Beans session persistance? ... JEE has a lot of technical debt, the word is definitely appropriate here.
Well, a lot of people did because once upon a time that's how we wrote applications (primarily via server-side rendering).
> when most applications use a RESTful architecture?
Java EE has an API for that...
> JEE has a lot of technical debt
Can't argue with that, but it comes in the form of APIs you don't have to use.
I know of many greenfield projects using it, mainly PrimeFaces.
I guess there are still those shops maintaining intranet apps, and for whom it is a priority that everything is 100% Java, or who can't or don't want to invest into JavaScript or another web stack, but I think a responsible consultant should tell these customers that their stack is on life support now.
Fortunately they're all starting to kick out chrome for business now.
If they provided a web site with pictures of boxes of software for min $2000 that never arrived and didn't do anything it might work better. The moment someone says "donate" the bean counters start sharpening their pitchforks.
In any case, I am pretty much against the mentality here that it is to switch jobs just because something isn't nice and shinny at the current employer, or customer.
Not every place on Earth is like SV avid for software developers.
Fads come and go, Java stays strong.
Many enterprise favor having mature technologies they can count on.
A responsible consultant should never advise customers adopting the cool JavaScript framework of the Month (TM), unless it is for building curriculum and write cool "We migrated to tech XXXX" blog posts.
You do realize TFA is about putting J2EE to rest, don't you? I'm well aware of Java's qualities on the backend, but ignoring browser innovation for 10 years (iPhone and the push for responsive) or even 15 years (Ajax) isn't good advice IMHO.
For better or worse, the same developer attitude and deployment constraints that made Java developers never look beyond the Java ecosystem is happening with Node.js developers, now that Java doesn't give you a full stack anymore (ignoring gwt and echo, which have been deprecated for 5+ years now as well).
My point being that these frameworks are chosen because the options are limited to what's available on the JVM, trading last-gen Java know-how against younger (and sexier) know-how.
It's also a miracle to me why JavaScript isn't more popular with Java developers, of all people, when in fact Java has two mature JavaScript engines, and JavaScript certainly is interesting from a bridge/migration perspective. Years ago Oracle and RedHat had even partial Node.js ports, but it never went very far.
I guess from the Java perspective, Javascript does not look too sexy, as it is a small but dangerous / unhelpful language with an uncompetitive-to-Java library ecosystem. TypeScript is great however.
React, Webpack, CSS compilers and pretty much all other modern frontend (compile-time) asset tools are running on Node.js and install from npmjs.com. Node.js is also perfect for a shallow web-facing container developed along with the front-end as a complement to Java-based (mini/SOA/whatever)-services. So I think it's quite useful to make Node.js workloads run under the JVM.
Not yet another packaging tool or fait-divers like pad left.
And the majority of them written in pure Java, not C++ wrapped in a JavaScript API.
I was specifically talking about web libraries/tools, though. Nobody is saying Java backend development must be abandoned in general.
Hint, you don't. Just hope that the browser does a good job with print to PDF, or run a server side pile of shell scripts, using LaTeX and Postscript, instead of a plain simple library.
And this is just one example from many, where JavaScript/Web sucks on the front-end.
Also Android is front-end development.
Talking about fads, the so modern JavaScript frameworks now have discovered how to optimize user experience on mobile by doing, guess what, server side rendering!
Ask yourself why of all the languages and runtime, it's mostly Java running the enterprise world.
Java EE is not the only way of doing serverside java apps - most of systems i've developed used tomcat + spring-* stack, which is not a Java EE platform.
I think reading this project page may help clarify what Java EE is:
These days it's more fair to say that Spring "supports optional integration" with JEE API's. You can run modern Spring web/REST apps without a Servlet container. Spring doesn't care whether your ORM implements the JPA interfaces or not. Etc, etc... it's all slowly phasing out.