What Are Java Microservices?
Using a microservices architecture, a development team can write applications using multiple programming languages and with cross-functional collaboration. Each service can be deployed and scaled independently. This flexibility enables greater reliability, scalability, and governance.
A Java microservices architecture refers, of course, to microservices using the Java programming language. Microservices have minimal capabilities, functioning as building blocks rather than a singular and complete picture. Combined, microservices work together to form a robust solution or outcome.
Developed in 1995, Java has a vast array of tools and frameworks in its ecosystem. Using Java microservices means developers can access and leverage these to fit their needs.
To fully understand the benefits of Java microservices frameworks, it’s first helpful to understand the benefits of using a microservices approach to development.
Microservices Advantages
Flexibility
Microservices enable a degree of flexibility that allows a developer to choose the tool or language that best fits a particular purpose, task, or desired outcome. As more languages come to market and the technology landscape changes, development teams can change their approach to suit rather than attempting to force-fit a legacy approach.
Scalability
By nature, microservices are independent and, therefore, easier to manage and scale. With ease, deployment teams can scale up or down as required, while keeping costs lower than attempting to scale a monolithic application.
Faster Time to Market
Microservices enable cross-functional collaboration and distributed, autonomous teams. This ability to work independently means increased productivity and faster development cycles, reading to a faster time to market for applications.
Resilience
By running independently, microservices lower the chance that an entire project or application stack will be impacted should a component fail. This improves fault isolation and prevents the need to redeploy the entire application, making changes and deployments more straightforward.
Microservices Benefits
In addition to microservices advantages, choosing Java brings additional upsides.
Community
Java is nearly 30 years old and has a vast global community – one of the oldest and broadest on the market today. For developers, this community means access to innumerable resources, libraries, and frameworks. It also means finding and building a team of Java developers is easy.
Java is platform-independent and a popular choice for building enterprise applications, backend development, mobile and web apps, cloud, AI, and big data use cases.
Syntax
When working with complex systems, Java keeps things approachable and easily read. That’s because the syntax and standards are developer-friendly. This includes annotations, a large benefit for collaborative teams. The structure of Java supports microservices deployment without increasing overhead, and Java standards support various microservices architectures.
Frameworks
Several Java microservices frameworks are available for easier, faster development. Frameworks make configuration and setup simpler and help individual microservices communicate with one another.
The de facto standard framework is Java Spring Boot microservices. The Spring suite of Initializr, Cloud, and its embedded server model allows developers to easily configure and set up microservices.
In addition to Java Spring microservices, Dropwizard is a popular choice for building RESTful web services. Dropwizard offers useful tools in a lightweight package, enabling developers to create applications with little friction.
