Spring Framework for Java, What a Delight!
I began working on a project I set aside about 6 months ago that includes a Java Web Application programmed with the Spring Framework. I am mostly interested in getting some experience with technologies that I don't use in my 9-5 job. The new territory I'm covering (or re-visiting, actually) is web page design (yikes, I'm a engineer!) and database schema design.
I'm using the Spring Framework to create a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, and have found that it ties together with back-end and presentation technologies very nicely. It took me a while to learn the lingo of Java Servlet development since I haven't ventured beyond XML Web Services and client-server development in a couple of years.
Once I had the routine down, cranking out code and GUIs was progressing at a lightning-pace! I could easily get the functionality of the project done in a weekend. An since the Java Server Pages (JSPs) are using the model data in a super-decoupled way, changing the look-and-feel of the web site should be really easy. I would hate to design a large interactive web-site with anything besides Spring.