Reviving Java in Modern Web Development — One Backend at a Time
This project is a personal initiative to reconnect with Java — the language where my programming journey began — and demonstrate its powerful capabilities in modern backend development. After years of working extensively with Node.js, React, Docker, and AWS, I’m bringing Java back into my stack to explore its strengths in enterprise-grade applications, type safety, performance, and ecosystem maturity.
🚀 A tribute to my roots, and a step toward mastering polyglot backend systems.
While JavaScript/Node.js dominates today’s full-stack landscape, Java remains a powerhouse for scalable, maintainable, and high-performance server-side applications. With strong typing, robust frameworks like Spring Boot, excellent tooling, and unmatched support for microservices, Java deserves more spotlight — especially among developers transitioning from web-first stacks.
This project aims to:
- Relearn and master core & advanced Java concepts
- Explore Spring Boot for REST API development
- Compare Java-based services with Node.js equivalents
- Build production-ready backends using Java + MySQL + Docker
- Share learnings for others looking to expand beyond JS
💡 Inspired by my early days at Soften Technologies (2017) where I began my IT career as a Java trainee.
This repository contains a Spring Boot-powered RESTful backend API designed to manage a simple e-commerce or content platform (to be extended). It serves as a foundation to experiment with:
✅ REST API Design
✅ Spring Boot 3+ (Java 17)
✅ JPA / Hibernate ORM
✅ MySQL Database Integration
✅ JWT-based Authentication
✅ Exception Handling & Validation
✅ Logging with SLF4J
✅ Dockerized Deployment
✅ CI/CD Ready Structure
Future enhancements may include:
- Microservices architecture using Spring Cloud
- Kafka for event-driven communication
- Testing with JUnit & Mockito
- Integration with React frontend
- Java 17+ (OpenJDK)
- Maven (comes with most IDEs)
- MySQL 8.0+
- Docker (optional)
git clone https://github.com/nelsonct7/BringJavaBack.git
cd BringJavaBack