Javalin Framework for Kotlin and Java Updated
The most recent update of Javalin, the lightweight web framework designed for Kotlin and Java, marks a minor release primarily focused on bug fixes. Despite its incremental nature, the continuous development and increasing popularity of this open-source project serve as a testament to the success of this minimalist framework.
Since its initial release in November 2017, approximately two releases per month have been introduced, with each major update maintaining backward compatibility. In this latest release, a util class for rate limiting has been added, allowing developers to invoke it at the start of their endpoint handler functions. Additionally, a new plugin, RedirectToLowercasePathPlugin, has been introduced to address the removal of case-insensitive matching in Javalin 2.x. This plugin redirects requests with uppercase or mixed-case paths to lowercase paths, maintaining the casing of path parameters and query parameters. However, it comes with a caveat—when using this plugin, only paths with lowercase URL fragments can be added, as highlighted in the documentation.
Originally stemming from the Spark Framework, another straightforward Java/Kotlin web framework, Javalin quickly transformed into a “ground-up rewrite,” drawing inspiration from express.js, an unopinionated and minimalist web framework for Node.js. Running on Eclipse Jetty, one of the most widely used and stable web servers on the JVM, Javalin was designed with compatibility in mind, allowing for consistent usage in both Java and Kotlin app development.
The rise in Kotlin’s popularity among Java developers has been a noticeable trend since JetBrains introduced and open-sourced the statically typed programming language in 2011. Kotlin compiles to both JVM bytecode and JavaScript, and JetBrains claims it offers greater runtime stability than Java due to static checks on weak points and support for features like variable type interface, closures, extension functions, and mix-ins. Moreover, Kotlin’s concise syntax and reduced verbosity compared to Java contribute to increased readability, allowing developers to achieve more with fewer lines of code, as exemplified in a keynote demo at the 2017 Google I/O conference.
The most recent update of Javalin, the lightweight web framework designed for Kotlin and Java, marks a minor release primarily focused on bug fixes. Despite its incremental nature, the continuous development and increasing popularity of this open-source project serve as a testament to the success of this minimalist framework. Since its initial release in November…