Nalanda
All roadmaps
beginner31 topics

Java Spring Framework

A comprehensive learning path for the Java Spring Framework — from Java fundamentals and dependency injection basics to building production-ready microservices with Spring Boot, Spring Security, and Spring Cloud.

Start learning

What you'll learn

Section 1 · Java Foundations

  1. 01
    Java OOP Essentials
    Review the core object-oriented programming concepts in Java — classes, interfaces, inheritance, and polymorphism — that Spring relies on heavily.
  2. 02
    Annotations & Reflection
    Understand how Java annotations work and how reflection allows frameworks like Spring to inspect and configure your code at runtime.
  3. 03
    Maven & Gradle Build Tools
    Learn how to manage dependencies, build lifecycle, and project structure using Maven or Gradle, the standard build tools for Spring projects.

Section 2 · Spring Core Concepts

  1. 01
    Inversion of Control & the Spring Container
    Understand the IoC principle and how the Spring ApplicationContext manages object creation, configuration, and lifecycle for you.
  2. 02
    Dependency Injection
    Learn constructor, setter, and field injection patterns and why DI leads to loosely coupled, testable code.
  3. 03
    Beans & Scopes
    Explore how Spring beans are defined, their lifecycle callbacks, and the different scopes (singleton, prototype, request, session) that control their lifespan.
  4. 04
    Java-Based Configuration
    Configure Spring applications using @Configuration classes and @Bean methods instead of XML, the modern and preferred approach.
  5. 05
    XML Configuration
    Understand the legacy XML-based configuration approach, which you will encounter in older Spring codebases.
  6. 06
    Component Scanning & Stereotypes
    Learn how @Component, @Service, @Repository, and @Controller let Spring automatically discover and register your beans.
  7. 07
    Spring Expression Language (SpEL)
    Use SpEL to inject dynamic values, evaluate expressions, and reference bean properties in configuration.

Section 3 · Spring Boot

  1. 01
    Spring Boot Auto-Configuration
    Understand how Spring Boot uses opinionated defaults and auto-configuration to eliminate boilerplate and get applications running quickly.
  2. 02
    Starters & Dependency Management
    Learn how starter POMs bundle compatible dependencies so you can add capabilities (web, data, security) with a single dependency.
  3. 03
    Application Properties & Profiles
    Configure your application using application.yml/properties files and switch between environments (dev, staging, prod) using Spring profiles.
  4. 04
    Spring Boot Actuator
    Expose production-ready endpoints for health checks, metrics, and application info to monitor your running application.

Section 4 · Building Web Applications

  1. 01
    Spring MVC & REST Controllers
    Build HTTP APIs using @RestController, request mapping annotations, and understand the DispatcherServlet request lifecycle.
  2. 02
    Request Handling & Validation
    Handle path variables, query parameters, request bodies, and validate input using Bean Validation annotations.
  3. 03
    Exception Handling & Error Responses
    Implement global and controller-level exception handling with @ExceptionHandler and @ControllerAdvice to return consistent error responses.
  4. 04
    Spring WebFlux & Reactive Web
    Explore the reactive, non-blocking alternative to Spring MVC for building high-throughput applications using Project Reactor.

Section 5 · Data Access

  1. 01
    Spring Data JPA
    Use Spring Data JPA to interact with relational databases through repository interfaces, eliminating boilerplate data access code.
  2. 02
    Transaction Management
    Understand declarative transaction management with @Transactional, isolation levels, propagation behaviors, and rollback rules.
  3. 03
    Spring Data for NoSQL
    Access MongoDB, Redis, and other NoSQL stores through Spring Data's consistent repository abstraction.

Section 6 · Spring Security

  1. 01
    Authentication & Authorization Basics
    Configure Spring Security's filter chain to authenticate users and authorize access to endpoints using roles and authorities.
  2. 02
    JWT & OAuth2 / OpenID Connect
    Implement token-based authentication with JWT and integrate with OAuth2 providers for modern, stateless security.
  3. 03
    Method-Level Security
    Secure individual service methods using @PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize, and other expression-based access control annotations.

Section 7 · Testing Spring Applications

  1. 01
    Unit Testing with Mockito
    Write isolated unit tests for Spring components by mocking dependencies with Mockito and running tests outside the Spring context.
  2. 02
    Integration Testing with @SpringBootTest
    Write integration tests that boot the full or sliced Spring context to verify that components work together correctly.
  3. 03
    Testcontainers for Database Testing
    Use Testcontainers to spin up real databases in Docker during tests, avoiding the pitfalls of in-memory database differences.

Section 8 · Advanced Topics & Production

  1. 01
    Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP)
    Implement cross-cutting concerns like logging, auditing, and performance monitoring using Spring AOP aspects and pointcuts.
  2. 02
    Caching with Spring Cache Abstraction
    Add transparent caching to service methods with @Cacheable and integrate with providers like Redis or Caffeine.
  3. 03
    Messaging with Spring (Kafka, RabbitMQ)
    Build event-driven architectures using Spring's messaging abstractions for Apache Kafka or RabbitMQ.
  4. 04
    Microservices with Spring Cloud
    Decompose applications into microservices using Spring Cloud for service discovery, configuration management, circuit breakers, and API gateways.