Spring

Definition:

Spring is described as a lightweight framework for building Java applications, but that statement brings up two interesting points.

First, you can use Spring to build any application in Java and, unlike many other frameworks such as Apache Struts, it is not just limited to web applications.

Second, the lightweight part of the description doesn’t really refer to the number of classes or the size of the distribution, but rather, it defines the principle of the Spring philosophy as a whole—that is, minimal impact. Spring is lightweight in the sense that you have to make few, if any, changes to your application code to gain the benefits of the Spring core, and should you choose to discontinue using Spring at any point, you will find doing so quite simple.

Notice that we qualified that last statement to refer to the

Spring core only—many of the extra Spring components, such as data access, require a much

closer coupling to the Spring framework.