Alejandro Duarte - Developing Web Applications in Java

This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.

The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.

This book teaches you how to be productive with Java web application development. Java is the number one programming language and runtime environment for high-quality, enterprise-ready software in the industry, and it will remain as such in the years to come. From credit cards (through Java Card) to remote-controlled rovers searching for water and life on Mars, Java has proven to be fast, secure, reliable, and modern.

The rich Java ecosystem provides developers with an army of libraries, frameworks, tools, patterns, and practices to triumph in the software development field. One of the soldiers in the Java ecosystem is Vaadinan open source web framework that reduces costs by shortening the development time of business web applications. Vaadin is a Finnish word that means reindeer, and this reindeers motto is Fight for Simplicity. Vaadin simplifies web software development by offering the best developer experience in the market to Java developers who prefer to code in Java.

This book is for software developers with a basic or higher knowledge of the Java programming language who want to build on their Java skills to create web graphical user interfaces. Its tailored to those who want to create web applications without having to code in JavaScript and HTML and, instead, leverage the power of Java and its ecosystem in the presentation layer. Its also a good resource for developers preparing to take and pass the Vaadin certification exams or who want to strengthen their expertise with the framework.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And mostly so in a book that explains how to create graphical user interfaces. The book contains more than 140 screenshots and figures that make the topics easier to grasp. The book includes example projects that can be run independently and, in most cases, are formed by independent screens to reduce the need to remember code from previous chapters or even sections.

This book doesnt pretend to be a complete reference document about Vaadin. I made a good effort to explain the concepts using an informal, relaxed writing style in contrast to the more reference-like style often required in official product documentation. Im convinced that the Vaadin documentation and this book are the perfect mix to master Vaadin.

For topics not covered in this book or in the official documentation, I invite you to join the active Vaadin Community on the channels available at www.vaadin.com .

Writing a book is quite an adventure. Although you have a map, the fine-grained details of the terrain are uncharted. I took on this adventure fully aware of the fantastic people who, in one way or another, would walk the journey with me.

I had an outstanding cartographerthe team at Apress. Jonathan Gennick helped me to make the most out of the journey. Jill Balzano made sure that my gear worked through the ride. Andres Sacco pointed out the immediate dangers and suggested safer pathways.

Writing this book would have been impossible without the almost unconditional support from Vaadin Ltd. This extraordinary company allowed me to use a substantial part of my work time to write the draft. Marcus Hellberg made sure to clear up many of the obstacles I would have never detected by gazing at the map. My teammates, especially Mikael Sukoinen and Luis Gutierrez, watched my back and told inspiring stories every Monday at 5 p.m.

When you take on an adventure like this, the stories that many other adventurers have told you come to mind and inspire you. In every paragraph that forms the chapters of this book, there is a software developer with whom I interacted before. Sami Ekblad, Matti Tahvonen, Leif strand, Petter Hlmstrm, Jani Laakso, Geovanny Mendoza, Ricardo Cantillo, Camilo Gonzales, Yury Nio, Julien Monnier, Karan Biawat, Alexandros Milaios, Orlando Vsquez, Andrea Bosio, Jet Beray, and many others left a mark in this voyage.

Like in every endeavor that imposes challenges, I was accompanied by those who provide comfort and love when you need to take a break to prepare for the next leg of the journey. My parents and siblings, Mari Vento, Jussi Kalliokorpi, Eva Adolfsson, Noomi rs, Dora Quintero, Jos Pabn, Yenny Bermdez, Camilo Macias, and Erkki Suikki. To all of you, thank you!