Nowadays, Java application development requires the use of various libraries, frameworks, and IDEs.
With the enormous quantity of development tools, open source projects play a major role for developers as they are easily accessible, provide the opportunity to monitor the source code, edit it based on their aims, participate in discussions, and offer suggestions for improving code quality.
There are a large number of open source tools that are written in Java. But which ones are considered the best among developers nowadays? Let’s look at the top ten open source Java-based instruments:
RxJava
RxJava is a reactive extension implementation for JVM, it is a library for composing event-based and asynchronous programs using observable sequences. RxJava is a declarative, extensible, composable, and transformative tool.
Abstracting away from synchronization, low-level threading, and concurrent data structures, Rx extends the observer pattern to support event sequences and adds operators, allowing you to declaratively compose sequences.
RxJava is used for UI events (button click, mouse move), domain events (collection updated, property changed), infrastructure events (file watcher, system events), integration events (broadcast from a message bus), and integration with a CEP (Complex Event Processing).
Companies like Netflix and Robinhood use RxJava in their tech stacks.
Spring Boot
Spring Boot is an open source framework developed by Pivotal Team that allows for comprehensive programming for Java-based stand-alone and production-ready enterprise app development.
To get started with the app, Spring Boot requires minimum fuss as everything is auto-configured, meaning there is no need for manual configurations.
Being easy to understand and use for app development, Spring Boot is designed to increase developers’ productivity as well as reduce development time.
It also offers a flexible way to configure Database Transactions, Java Beans, and XML configurations.
Companies such as Netflix, Accenture, Craftbase, and others use Spring Boot in their tech stack.
Elasticsearch
Designed for the cloud, Elasticsearch is a distributed RESTful open source search and analytical engine that helps in performing different kinds of search mechanisms.
It is used for all types of data, such as textual, geospatial, numerical, application and website, structured, and unstructured.
Built on Apache Lucene and known for its simple REST APIs, scalability, and speed, it is the crucial component of the Elastic Stack (a set of open source tools for data analysis, ingestion, enrichment, storage, and visualization).
Nearly 3000 companies reportedly use Elasticsearch, including Slack, Shopify, and Uber.
Guava
Guava has Google’s main libraries that we need for Java projects.
It includes new collection types such as multiset and multimap, immutable collections, utilities for I/O, concurrency libraries, cashing, hashing, string processing, primitives support, and a graph library, as well as an extension to JCF (the former Google Collections Library).
There are two types of Guava: a JRE requiring JDK 1.8 (Java 8+) and an Android type for JDK 1.7 (Java 7) or Android support. The Android Guava source is found in the Android directory.
Guava is widely used on Google projects as well as by other companies worldwide.
Apache Hadoop
Apache Hadoop is a framework used for running apps on a large cluster that is built on commodity hardware. Hadoop’s framework provides apps with reliability and data motion.
The project provides a computational paradigm called Map/Reduce that divides an app into small fragments of work. Each of those fragments can be re-executed on any node in the cluster.
Hadoop has its own HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System), which provides high bandwidth across the cluster. Hence, both HDFS and Map/Reduce are designed to automatically detect and handle node failures.
The Apache Hadoop project is used by IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services.
Micronaut
Developed by Object Computing, Micronaut is designed to be lightweight, easy-to-test, and memory-efficient. It boasts features such as ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, dependency injection, and built-in support for cloud-native architectures.
Micronaut enables developers to create microservices with minimal startup time and memory footprint, making it suitable for resource-constrained environments.
Its reactive programming support and seamless integration with popular tools like GraalVM make it an attractive choice for building scalable and efficient applications.
Companies like Oracle, VMware, and Object Computing itself leverage Micronaut for their projects, highlighting its adoption in both large enterprises and innovative startups.
Quarkus
Quarkus is a Kubernetes-native Java framework that strives to streamline Java apps for containerized environments, providing fast startup times and low memory consumption.
Quarkus supports imperative and reactive programming, which makes it adaptable to various application architectures.
Developed by Red Hat, Quarkus emphasizes developer productivity with features like live coding and easy integration with popular Java libraries and frameworks. It is particularly well-suited for building cloud-native and serverless applications.
Apache Maven
Apache Maven is a widely used open source project management and comprehension tool. It simplifies the build process for Java projects by managing dependencies, compiling code, and packaging artifacts.
Maven follows a convention-over-configuration approach, eliminating the need for manual project settings.
Developed by the Apache Software Foundation, Maven has become a standard build tool in the Java ecosystem. It supports plug-ins for various tasks, facilitating integration with different IDEs and continuous integration tools.
Maven’s centralized repository system ensures easy access to a vast ecosystem of libraries and components.
Many organizations, including LinkedIn, Twitter, and eBay, rely on Apache Maven to streamline their build processes and manage project dependencies efficiently.
JUnit
JUnit is a widely adopted open source testing framework for Java. It provides annotations to define test methods, test fixtures, and assertions, making it easy for developers to write and execute unit tests.
JUnit’s simplicity and extensibility make it a preferred choice for checking Java applications. With the evolution of JUnit 5, the framework introduced new features like parameterized tests and improved extension support, enhancing its capabilities further.
JUnit is integrated into various IDEs and build tools, ensuring seamless integration into the development workflow. Its usage extends across diverse industries, including finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, demonstrating its relevance in ensuring software quality.
Vaadin
Developed by Vaadin Ltd., Vaadin provides a set of pre-built UI components, enabling rapid development and consistent user experiences. Vaadin integrates with popular Java frameworks and supports both server-side and client-side architectures.
Vaadin serves as a preferred choice for esteemed enterprises such as Siemens, Lufthansa, and SAP in creating sophisticated web applications tailored for enterprise use.
This underscores its proficiency in handling intricate UI demands within the Java-centric realm.
Conclusion
With a bunch of existing Java-based projects being open-sourced, it is not that easy to choose the most popular ones, as each of them is designed to tackle a particular issue.
If you need further consultation or assistance, you can request Java web application development services.
Hence, in this list, we placed the open source projects that are of frequent use among developers. It is noteworthy that the list presented above can be customized based on the company’s objectives.
