Spring Boot is an open-source framework built on top of the Spring framework. Its primary goal is to simplify the development of production-ready, standalone Spring applications with minimal configuration.
Spring Boot provides three key features that make development easier. Auto-configuration automatically sets up your Spring application based on the dependencies in your classpath. Starter dependencies provide pre-configured sets for common use cases. And embedded servers like Tomcat are built right into your application.
A Spring Boot application has a simple structure. The main application class uses the SpringBootApplication annotation and contains the main method that starts the application. Key components include Controllers for handling web requests, Services for business logic, Repositories for data access, and Configuration classes for setup.
Getting started with Spring Boot is straightforward. First, create a project using Spring Initializr at start dot spring dot io, where you can select your dependencies and generate the project structure. Second, add the necessary starter dependencies like spring-boot-starter-web for web applications. Finally, run your application using maven spring-boot run command or simply run the main method in your IDE.
To summarize what we have learned about Spring Boot: It simplifies Spring application development through auto-configuration and starter dependencies. The embedded servers make deployment easier, and it is perfect for building microservices and rapid prototyping. Spring Boot truly makes Java development more productive and enjoyable.