I would like to build a Java Web Application. What's the quickest start?

I am a reasonably competent programmer, with about 11 years experience.

I particularly like Ruby/Rails and ActionScript.

And Java is easy enough, I've used it for ordinary applications, and mostly as ones that run on the server, just not web-based ones.

I'd like to develop a web application in Java in order to leverage things like BlazeDS and help tie front-ends together with my previously-written Java apps. i.e. u开发者_开发知识库se existing Java code but in a web context.

But I'm having trouble - and confused - looking for a smooth start. I don't want to use Grails, been there, thanks, I want to use Pure Java, with whatever Framework you can think of. Spring, Hibernate, etc.

Where do I start?

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Play Framework lets you get started quickly. http://www.playframework.org/

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Spring Roo is a RAD framework for web apps. It's similar to like Rails or Grails, but uses code generation instead of metaprogramming magic.

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This thread contains useful pointers on starting Java web development

http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread249070.html

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Since your goal is "Pure Java," how about Wicket? Straight from their feature list:

Wicket does not mix markup with Java code and adds no special syntax to your markup files. The worlds of HTML and Java are parallel and associated only by Wicket ids, which are attributes in HTML and Component properties in Java. Since Wicket HTML is just HTML and Wicket Java is just Java, coders and designers can work independently to a large degree and without relying on any special tools.

If you want more info, there's a web page on why you should use Wicket.

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I've really enjoyed working with Spring MVC. It took a while to ramp up with Spring, but the whole affair has just made since after investing the time.

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I have found JavaServer Faces 2.0 using Facelets to be a good compromise between power and ease of use, plus it allows you to use a lot of extra libraries when you get more advanced.

For JBoss you need to include JSF in your web application. Download the 2.0.2 distribution and see the documentation in there.