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  5. Apache FreeMarker vs JSTL

Apache FreeMarker vs JSTL

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

JSTL
JSTL
Stacks25
Followers24
Votes0
Apache FreeMarker
Apache FreeMarker
Stacks508
Followers74
Votes0
GitHub Stars1.1K
Forks270

Apache FreeMarker vs JSTL: What are the differences?

Introduction

Apache FreeMarker and JSTL (JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library) are both widely used technologies in web development. While they serve similar purposes of separating business logic from presentation, there are key differences between them. This article will highlight six significant differences between Apache FreeMarker and JSTL.

  1. Syntax: One of the fundamental differences between Apache FreeMarker and JSTL is their syntax. Apache FreeMarker uses its own templating language that resembles HTML with additional features for data binding and logic handling. On the other hand, JSTL utilizes tags and expressions that are embedded within the JSP (JavaServer Pages) markup.

  2. Language Independence: Apache FreeMarker is designed to be language independent, allowing you to work with various programming languages and frameworks. It supports not only Java but also other languages such as PHP, Python, and .NET. In contrast, JSTL is tightly integrated with Java and is typically used with JSP or Servlets.

  3. Flexibility: Apache FreeMarker provides more flexibility in terms of customizing and extending the functionality. It offers a wide range of built-in features and allows for the creation of custom directives and functions. JSTL, on the other hand, has a predefined set of tags and functions, limiting the extensibility options.

  4. Portability: Since Apache FreeMarker is language independent, templates created with it can be reused across different platforms and frameworks. This makes it easier to switch between technologies without having to rewrite the templates. JSTL, being tightly coupled with Java, may not be as portable and may require modification when moving to different frameworks or languages.

  5. Performance: Apache FreeMarker is known for its high-performance rendering engine. It compiles templates to Java bytecode, resulting in faster execution. JSTL, on the other hand, relies on the JSP engine for rendering, which might introduce some overhead and impact performance, especially for complex templates.

  6. Community Support: Both Apache FreeMarker and JSTL have active communities, but the size and scope of community support may differ. Apache FreeMarker, being a standalone templating engine, has a dedicated community that focuses on its development and maintenance. JSTL, being a part of the Java ecosystem, benefits from the vast Java community support.

In summary, Apache FreeMarker and JSTL differ in their syntax, language independence, flexibility, portability, performance, and community support. These differences make each technology suitable for specific use cases and preferences.

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Detailed Comparison

JSTL
JSTL
Apache FreeMarker
Apache FreeMarker

It has support for common, structural tasks such as iteration and conditionals, tags for manipulating XML documents, internationalization tags, and SQL tags. It also provides a framework for integrating the existing custom tags with the JSTL tags.

It is a "template engine"; a generic tool to generate text output (anything from HTML to auto generated source code) based on templates. It's a Java package, a class library for Java programmers.

tags for manipulating XML documents; internationalization tags; SQL tags
Powerful template language;Multipurpose and lightweight;Internationalization/localization-aware;XML processing capabilities;Versatile data-model
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
1.1K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
270
Stacks
25
Stacks
508
Followers
24
Followers
74
Votes
0
Votes
0
Integrations
Spring Boot
Spring Boot
Java EE
Java EE
Java
Java
Vim
Vim
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA
Eclipse
Eclipse
NetBeans IDE
NetBeans IDE
TextMate
TextMate
Emacs
Emacs

What are some alternatives to JSTL, Apache FreeMarker?

Quarkus

Quarkus

It tailors your application for GraalVM and HotSpot. Amazingly fast boot time, incredibly low RSS memory (not just heap size!) offering near instant scale up and high density memory utilization in container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes. We use a technique we call compile time boot.

MyBatis

MyBatis

It is a first class persistence framework with support for custom SQL, stored procedures and advanced mappings. It eliminates almost all of the JDBC code and manual setting of parameters and retrieval of results. It can use simple XML or Annotations for configuration and map primitives, Map interfaces and Java POJOs (Plain Old Java Objects) to database records.

guava

guava

The Guava project contains several of Google's core libraries that we rely on in our Java-based projects: collections, caching, primitives support, concurrency libraries, common annotations, string processing, I/O, and so forth.

Thymeleaf

Thymeleaf

It is a modern server-side Java template engine for both web and standalone environments. It is aimed at creating elegant web code while adding powerful features and retaining prototyping abilities.

JSF

JSF

It is used for building component-based user interfaces for web applications and was formalized as a standard through the Java Community

JavaMelody

JavaMelody

It is used to monitor Java or Java EE application servers in QA and production environments. It is not a tool to simulate requests from users, it is a tool to measure and calculate statistics on real operation of an application depending on the usage of the application by users. It is mainly based on statistics of requests and on evolution charts.

RxJava

RxJava

A library for composing asynchronous and event-based programs by using observable sequences for the Java VM.

MapStruct

MapStruct

It is a code generator that greatly simplifies the implementation of mappings between Java bean types based on a convention over configuration approach. The generated mapping code uses plain method invocations and thus is fast, type-safe and easy to understand.

Java 8

Java 8

It is a revolutionary release of the world’s no 1 development platform. It includes a huge upgrade to the Java programming model and a coordinated evolution of the JVM, Java language, and libraries. Java 8 includes features for productivity, ease of use, improved polyglot programming, security and improved performance.

Jackson

Jackson

It is a suite of data-processing tools for Java (and the JVM platform), including the flagship streaming JSON parser / generator library, matching data-binding library (POJOs to and from JSON) and additional data format modules to process data encoded in Avro, BSON, CBOR, CSV, Smile, (Java) Properties, Protobuf, XML or YAML; and even the large set of data format modules to support data types of widely used data types such as Guava, Joda.

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