Comparing JVM Web Frameworks - Devoxx France 2013

COMPARING JVM WEB FRAMEWORKS

Matt Raiblehttp://raibledesigns.com@mraible

© 2013 Raible Designs

Photos by Trish McGinity © 2013 Raible Designs

http://raibledesigns.com


http://twitter.com/mraible


http://mcginityphoto.com

http://mcginityphoto.com


Blogger on raibledesigns.com

Founder of AppFuse

Father, Skier, Cyclist

Web Framework Connoisseur

Who is Matt Raible?



http://appfuse.org

http://appfuse.org


Introductions

‣ Are you currently developing web applications for the JVM?

‣ Have you written web apps with Servlets or JSF?

‣ Experience with Grails, GWT, Rails, Spring MVC, Wicket, Tapestry or Play?

‣ Does anyone hate a framework? Love a framework?

3


‣ 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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6



7


Comparing Web Frameworks

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9



10


2007

11

http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/11/raible-web







12



Today

14


Too many web frameworks?

15


Remember SOFEA?


SOFEA became a Reality


SOFEA Performance Issues

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http://engineering.twitter.com/2012/05/improving-performance-on-twittercom.html





http://nerds.airbnb.com/weve-launched-our-first-nodejs-app-to-product





http://mir.aculo.us/2013/02/26/client-side-mvc-is-not-a-silver-bullet/

http://mir.aculo.us/2013/02/26/client-side-mvc-is-not-a-silver-bullet/

© 2013 Raible Designs 19

traditional web frameworks are still relevant


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


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)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buttersponge/4955768144/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buttersponge/4955768144/


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 5

- Community / Support

- HTML5

- REST

- Mobile

- Performance

- Page Speed28

How to Constrain Choices


‣ Language‣ Platform ‣ Application Type

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Predetermined Constraints


Choose the JVM

30


Get Fast Hardware

31


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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http://codebrief.com/2012/01/the-top-10-javascript-mvc-frameworks-reviewed/





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




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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Comparison Matrix

http://bit.ly/jvm-frameworks-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.

45

David Pollack’s Lift Ratings




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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http://ptrthomas.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/seam-jsf-vs-wicket-performance-comparison/

http://ptrthomas.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/seam-jsf-vs-wicket-performance-comparison/



‣ 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.

‣ + Lots of banter between Peter and Seam developers @ http://bit.ly/3X50Gc

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http://bit.ly/3X50Gc

http://bit.ly/3X50Gc



‣ 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








50



51



52



53


InfoQ’s Top 20

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http://raibledesigns.com/rd/entry/infoq_s_top_20_web

http://raibledesigns.com/rd/entry/infoq_s_top_20_web


devrates.com - by rating

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devrates.com - popular

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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:

- PrimeFaces, Grails, Tapestry, Vaadin, Wicket


Raible’s Recommendations

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‣ Full Stack: Choose by language (JRuby, Groovy, Java or Scala)‣ Pure Web Framework: Spring MVC, Struts 2, JSF w/ PrimeFaces,

Tapestry, Wicket or Vaadin‣ JavaScript MVC: Ember, Angular JS, Backbone

- API Framework: Jackson + ?


The Problem with GWT

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Comparison Statistics

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‣ Elimination Criteria

- At least 1 release in 2012

- At least 1 book on Amazon

- At least 10 jobs on dice.com

- At least 250 questions on Stack Overflow

‣ Remove Seam (development halted)


Jobs on Dice.com

0

75

150

225

300

Grails

JRub

y on R

ails Play Lift

Sprin

g Roo

Full Stack Frameworks, March 2013

61


Jobs on Dice.com

0

150

300

450

600

Sprin

g MVC

Strut

s 2

Wick

et

Tape

stry

Prim

eFac

es

Vaad

in

Pure Web Frameworks, March 2013

62


Jobs on Dice.com

0

75

150

225

300

Back

bone

Embe

r

Angu

lar

JavaScript MVC Frameworks, March 2013

63


Jobs on Dice.com

0

125

250

375

500

Jerse

y

Apac

he C

XF

REST

Easy

Dropwiza

rd

vert.x

JVM API Frameworks, March 2013

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LinkedIn Skills

0

3,750

7,500

11,250

15,000

Grails

Play

Sprin

g Roo

JRub

y on R

ails Lift

Full Stack Frameworks, March 2013

65


LinkedIn Skills

0

3,750

7,500

11,250

15,000

Sprin

g MVC

Strut

s 2

Wick

et

Prim

eFac

es

Vaad

in

Tape

stry

Pure Web Frameworks, March 2013

66


LinkedIn Skills

0

3,750

7,500

11,250

15,000

Back

bone

Angu

lar

Embe

r

JavaScript MVC Frameworks, March 2013

67


LinkedIn Skills

0

3,750

7,500

11,250

15,000

Jerse

y

Apac

he C

XF

REST

Easy

vert.x

Dropwiza

rd

JVM API Frameworks, March 2013

68


Google Trends

69


Google Trends

70


Google Trends

71


Google Trends

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Indeed Job Trends

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Indeed Job Trends

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Indeed Job Trends

75


Indeed Job Trends

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Mailing List Traffic

AngularJSPlayLift

GrailsWicket

TapestryApache CXFDropwizard

StrutsJersey

Backbone.js

0 750 1500 2250 3000

516882

157432

730790828

10491623

2340

February 2013

* Frameworks not listed here use Forums, which don’t provide this data.

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StackOverflow

0

3,750

7,500

11,250

15,000

Grails Play Lift Spring Roo JRuby on Rails

Tagged Questions (March 28, 2013)

78


StackOverflow

0

2,500

5,000

7,500

10,000

Spring MVC Struts 2 PrimeFaces Wicket Vaadin Tapestry


79


StackOverflow

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

Backbone.js Angular JS Ember.js


80


StackOverflow

0

750

1,500

2,250

3,000

Jersey Apache CXF RESTEasy Dropwizard vert.x


81


Java Developers

82

“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/






Modern Principles

83

http://blogs.atlassian.com/2012/01/modern-principles-in-web-development/






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

84


Developer Productivity

85

http://zeroturnaround.com/blog/developer-productivity-report-part-1-developer-timesheet/








Developer Productivity

86

http://zeroturnaround.com/blog/developer-productivity-report-part-3-developer-efficiency/

http://zeroturnaround.com/blog/







There is no “best” framework

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Just lots of awesome choices...


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 Informationhttp://raibledesigns.com@mraible

Presentationshttp://slideshare.net/mraible

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http://slideshare.net/mraible

http://slideshare.net/mraible

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Comparing JVM Web Frameworks - Devoxx France 2013