Java is one of the most popular programming languages. If you are a Java developer, you should know about Java libraries. These libraries; can be used to do a lot of tasks and are used by the finest Java developers. You can also check the list of best Java Frameworks.
Java provides a rich set of libraries, and its standard Java library is very powerful that contains libraries such as java.lang, java.util, and java.math, etc. Java provides more than thousands of libraries except standard libraries. Below is a list of some of the most helpful and popular libraries.
Top 10 Java Libraries You Should Know
Every developer is more or less aware of the benefits of using libraries- eliminating redundancy and thus saving time. Here is the list of 10 best Java Libraries every Java developer should know:
1. Logging Libraries
This is a very common type of Java library as one needs them almost in every project. Logging Libraries are very vital for server-side applications. This is because the logs are only placed in the places where one can see exactly what is going on in the application.
There are definitely better alternatives available even though JDK has its own logging library. But most importantly, every Java developer should know the pros and cons of Logging Library.
2. JSON Parsing libraries
JSON Parsing has definitely become the go-to protocol, in this 21st century of IoT and web services, which basically carries information from the client to the server. XML has been replaced as the most preferred way to transform information in a platform-independent way. But it is unfortunate that the JSON library is not there in JDK.
Though there are many good third-party libraries and a Java developer should know at least one of these libraries that allow one to parse and create JSON messages.
But it is unfortunate that the JSON library is not there in JDK. Though there are many good third-party libraries and a Java developer should know at least one of these libraries that allow one to parse and create JSON messages.
3. Unit Testing Libraries
The one most important thing that separates an average developer from a good developer is the knowledge of Unit testing Libraries. Unit testing is basically a process or a way of testing the piece of code, which is the smallest and referred to as a unit in a system that can be logically isolated. A unit is the smallest testable part of any software that has a single output or has one or more inputs.
To make the software perform according to one’s desire, it is important to make each unit validate. Though there are many excuses that are given by programmers to avoid writing Unit Testing but the most common among them is obviously the lack of knowledge and experience of popular unit testing libraries which includes PowerMock, JUnit and Mockito.
4. General-Purpose Libraries
There are a lot of Java libraries which simplify a lot of tasks. The general-purpose libraries or third-party libraries are available to Java developers like Google Guava and Apache Commons.
Once in Effective Java, Joshua Bloch has said that one should prefer trying and testing libraries instead of jotting down the routines every now and then and as there is no point in re-inventing the wheels. And even though it is an excellent opportunity for a Java developer to get to know Apache Commons library and Google Guava library.
5. HTTP Libraries
If there is one drawback of JDK, then it is their lack of support for HTTP. Though the java.net package can make an HTTP connection using classes. But still, it’s not seamless or as easy to use open-source, third-party libraries like HttpCore Apache and HttpClient.
It is a strong suggestion that every Java developer should get familiar with HTTP client libraries which include HttpCore and HttpClient as JDK 9 is bringing better support for HTTP and also giving the support of HTTP 2.0.
6. XML Parsing Libraries
XML-Parsing Libraries is basically a lightweight set of reusable functions for the general purpose of checking, parsing and creating XML files. SAX or DOM parsing styles are also supported by XML Parsing Libraries as they can support stream orientation. It also includes an optional graphical schema generator and
XSD schema validator. There are so many XML parsing libraries, including Xstream, Xerces, Dom4j, JAXB and JAXP. In the Apache Xerces family, Xerces2 is the next generation of fully compliant XML parsers and does a high performance. This new version of Xerces introduces a framework which is completely for building parser components and configuration that is extremely easy to program and extremely modular and which is Xerces Native Interface (XNI). XNI is the reference implementation of the Apache Xerces2 parser.
7. Excel Reading Libraries
Excel Reading Library is a very rich library that allows one to both write and read XLS files from a Java program. All the real-world applications have to interact with Microsoft office in some way or the other.
Excel is one among those that are needed in order to run many applications. It is needed to provide the functionality to export data in Excel. Apache POI API is needed if one needs to do the same from the Java application.
8. Bytecode Libraries
It enables Java programs to modify a class file and to define a new class at runtime before the JVM loads it. One needs a bytecode library if one is interacting with bytecode or writing a framework or libraries that generate code and eventually they will allow one to modify bytecode and read bytecode which I’d generated by an application. Javassist and Cglib Nodep are some of the popular bytecode libraries in the world of Java.
The Java bytecode manipulation becomes very simple because of The Javassist (JAVA programming ASSISTant). To edit bytecode in Java, it is one of the best libraries. Apart from this, another useful bytecode editing library is ASM.
9. Database Connection Pool Libraries
It feels s like missing something if one is not using a database connection pool libraries and still interacting with the database from a Java application. It is advisable to use DB connection libraries as creating a database connection at runtime makes requesting process slower and also takes a lot of time. Pool and DBCP are some of the popular ones.
A web server generally provides this functionality when it is in a web application, but a database connection pool library is needed when one is working in a Java application. One needs to include all these connection pool libraries to use the database connection pool effectively.
10. Messaging Libraries
Messaging is also an intrinsic characteristic of many real-world Java applications like database connection and logging. Java provides JMS, or the Java Messaging Service is not part of JDK as this one needs a separate JMS.jar but it is provided by Java.
Likewise, if one is using Tibco RV which is a third-party messaging protocol, then one needs to use third-party JAR in the application classpath.
Conclusion
That’s it. These are the top 10 Java libraries; you should know. These are the most popular Java libraries used by every Java developer. Besides these, there are many others. Java developers will constantly have to study and learn new things. These libraries are just the beginning!
I hope this article was helpful to you. If you liked the article, share it with others. If you have some suggestions, do not hesitate to leave them in the comments section.
