Spring Boot Roadmap: End-to-End Mastery
This roadmap provides a comprehensive, step-wise guide to mastering Spring Boot, detailing each
topic with its essential sub-components.
1. Foundational Prerequisites: Building a Strong Base
• 1.1. Core Java Concepts:
o Object-Oriented Programming (OOP):
▪ Encapsulation: Hiding internal state and requiring all interaction through
an object's public methods; how it's used in Spring with
@ConfigurationProperties or service classes.
▪ Inheritance: Creating new classes based on existing ones; specific examples
like JPA entity inheritance (@MappedSuperclass) and Spring bean
inheritance (though less common in modern Spring).
▪ Polymorphism: The ability of an object to take on many forms; applied in
Spring through interfaces (e.g., UserRepository being an interface with
multiple implementations), method overriding in services, and dynamic
bean selection (e.g., Strategy pattern).
▪ Abstraction: Hiding complex implementation details behind a simpler
interface; examples include Spring's Cache Abstraction (@Cacheable),
ConnectionDetails Abstraction, and various Spring interfaces (e.g.,
CommandLineRunner, ApplicationRunner).
o Collections Framework:
▪ Understanding List, Set, Map interfaces.
▪ Common implementations: ArrayList, LinkedList, HashSet, TreeSet,
HashMap, LinkedHashMap, TreeMap.
▪ Use cases for each collection type in Spring Boot applications (e.g., storing
data, managing unique identifiers, mapping configurations).
o Streams API:
▪ Functional programming concepts.
▪ Common operations: filter(), map(), reduce(), collect().
▪ Using streams for efficient data processing in services or utility classes.
o Concurrency:
▪ Basics of Thread and Runnable.
▪ ExecutorService and ThreadPoolExecutor for managing threads.
▪ Synchronization mechanisms: synchronized keyword, ReentrantLock.
▪ Introduction to java.util.concurrent package (e.g., CompletableFuture for
asynchronous operations).
• 1.2. Build Tools:
o Maven:
▪ pom.xml structure: groupId, artifactId, version, packaging.
▪ Dependency Management: dependencies, dependencyManagement,
scope.
▪ Plugins: maven-compiler-plugin, spring-boot-maven-plugin.
▪ Build Lifecycle: compile, test, package, install, deploy.
▪ Profiles for different environments.
o Gradle:
▪ build.gradle syntax: Groovy/Kotlin DSL.
▪ Tasks: Defining and executing custom tasks.
▪ Dependency Management: implementation, api, testImplementation.
▪ Plugins: java, io.spring.dependency-management,
org.springframework.boot.
▪ Packaging executable JARs/WARs with bootJar / bootWar tasks.
• 1.3. Development Environment Setup:
o IDEs:
▪ IntelliJ IDEA (recommended for Spring Boot): Project creation via Spring
Initializr, integrated Maven/Gradle support, Spring Boot dashboard,
debugger, code completion.
▪ VS Code with Java/Spring Boot extensions.
▪ Eclipse with Spring Tools Suite (STS) plugin.
o JDK Installation & Configuration: Setting up JAVA_HOME and PATH environment
variables.
2. Spring Framework Core & Spring Boot Basics: The Foundation
• 2.1. Spring Framework Core:
o Inversion of Control (IoC) Container: Understanding the Spring container
(ApplicationContext) and its role in managing objects.
o Dependency Injection (DI):
▪ Constructor Injection: Preferred method; dependencies provided via
constructor arguments (@Autowired on constructor).
▪ Setter Injection: Dependencies provided via setter methods (@Autowired
on setter).
▪ Field Injection: Dependencies injected directly into fields (@Autowired on
field); generally discouraged due to limitations in testing and immutability.
o Spring Beans:
▪ Definition: Objects managed by the Spring IoC container.
▪ Scope: singleton (default), prototype, request, session, application.
▪ Lifecycle: init-method, destroy-method, @PostConstruct, @PreDestroy.
▪ Bean creation methods (@Bean).
o Component Scanning:
▪ How Spring discovers and registers components.
▪ Stereotype annotations: @Component, @Service, @Repository,
@Controller, @RestController.
▪ Customizing scan paths with @ComponentScan.
• 2.2. Spring Boot Basics:
o Auto-configuration:
▪ How Spring Boot automatically configures applications based on classpath
dependencies.
▪ @EnableAutoConfiguration (implicitly included in
@SpringBootApplication).
▪ Conditional annotations (e.g., @ConditionalOnClass,
@ConditionalOnMissingBean) that drive auto-configuration.
▪ Overriding default configurations via application.properties or
application.yml.
o Spring Boot Starters:
▪ Purpose: Simplify dependency management by providing curated sets of
dependencies.
▪ Common examples:
▪ spring-boot-starter-web: For building web applications, including
RESTful APIs.
▪ spring-boot-starter-data-jpa: For JPA and database integration.
▪ spring-boot-starter-test: For testing Spring Boot applications.
▪ spring-boot-starter-actuator: For monitoring and managing
applications.
▪ spring-boot-starter-security: For robust authentication and
authorization.
▪ spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf / spring-boot-starter-webflux etc.
o Creating & Running Basic Spring Boot Applications:
▪ Using Spring Initializr (start.spring.io) to generate projects.
▪ Understanding the main method and SpringApplication.run().
▪ Running from IDE or as an executable JAR.
3. Web Development & RESTful APIs: Building the Interface
• 3.1. RESTful Web Services with Spring MVC/WebFlux:
o @RestController: Combines @Controller and @ResponseBody for building REST
APIs.
o @RequestMapping: Mapping HTTP requests to handler methods (class-level and
method-level).
o HTTP Methods: @GetMapping, @PostMapping, @PutMapping, @DeleteMapping,
@PatchMapping for defining specific request types.
o Introduction to Spring WebFlux for reactive, non-blocking applications (if
applicable).
• 3.2. Request/Response Handling:
o @RequestBody: Mapping HTTP request body to a Java object (e.g., JSON to POJO).
o @ResponseBody: Mapping Java object to HTTP response body (e.g., POJO to
JSON).
o @PathVariable: Extracting values from URI path segments.
o @RequestParam: Extracting values from query parameters.
o ResponseEntity: Customizing HTTP response (status code, headers, body).
• 3.3. Data Transfer Objects (DTOs):
o Purpose: Separating domain models from external API representation to prevent
over-exposure and improve flexibility.
o Implementation: Simple POJOs used for data exchange between client and server,
or between service layers.
• 3.4. Input Validation:
o Using Bean Validation API (jakarta.validation or javax.validation).
o @Valid and @Validated annotations for triggering validation.
o Validation annotations: @NotNull, @NotBlank, @Size, @Min, @Max, @Email, etc.
o Handling validation errors: BindingResult and MethodArgumentNotValidException.
o Creating custom validators.
• 3.5. Global Exception Handling:
o @ControllerAdvice: Centralized exception handling across multiple controllers.
o @ExceptionHandler: Handling specific exceptions in a controller or globally.
o ProblemDetail for standardized error responses (RFC 7807).
4. Data Persistence with Spring Data JPA: Interacting with Databases
• 4.1. Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) Concepts:
o What is ORM and why it's used (bridging object-oriented and relational worlds).
o Benefits: Increased productivity, simplified development, reduced boilerplate
code, better security.
o Understanding JPA (Java Persistence API) as the standard for ORM in Java.
o Basic JPA annotations (@Entity, @Table, @Id, @GeneratedValue, @Column).
• 4.2. Integrate with Relational Databases:
o Setting up application.properties for database connections.
o In-memory databases: H2 (for development and testing).
o External databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL (dependencies, URL, username,
password).
• 4.3. Spring Data JPA for Repository Creation:
o CrudRepository: Basic CRUD operations (save, findById, findAll, delete).
o PagingAndSortingRepository: Extends CrudRepository with pagination and sorting
capabilities.
o JpaRepository: Extends PagingAndSortingRepository with JPA-specific features like
flush(), saveAndFlush(), deleteInBatch().
o Defining custom methods based on method name conventions (query derivation,
e.g., findByLastNameAndFirstName).
• 4.4. Perform CRUD Operations:
o Saving entities.
o Retrieving entities by ID or other criteria.
o Updating existing entities.
o Deleting entities.
• 4.5. Define Custom Queries:
o Query derivation from method names (e.g., findByEmailOrderByLastNameDesc).
o @Query annotation:
▪ JPQL (Java Persistence Query Language): Object-oriented queries over
entities.
▪ Native SQL queries.
o JPA Named Queries.
o Criteria API for programmatic query building.
• 4.6. Manage Transactions:
o @Transactional annotation: For declarative transaction management on methods
or classes.
o Transaction Propagation: REQUIRED (default), REQUIRES_NEW, SUPPORTS,
NOT_SUPPORTED, MANDATORY, NEVER, NESTED.
o Isolation Levels: DEFAULT, READ_UNCOMMITTED, READ_COMMITTED,
REPEATABLE_READ, SERIALIZABLE.
o Rollback rules (rollbackFor, noRollbackFor).
5. Advanced Data Integration & Database Concepts: Beyond Relational
• 5.1. Different Database Types (NoSQL):
o MongoDB (Document Database):
▪ Integration with Spring Data MongoDB (MongoRepository).
▪ Common use cases (e.g., flexible schemas, large volumes of unstructured
data).
▪ Basic CRUD operations, aggregation pipelines.
o Redis (Key-Value/In-Memory Data Store):
▪ Integration with Spring Data Redis.
▪ Common use cases: Caching, session management, real-time analytics,
message broker.
▪ Basic operations: storing strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets.
• 5.2. JDBC Template for Low-Level Database Interaction:
o Purpose: When Spring Data JPA is too high-level or direct SQL control is needed
(e.g., bulk operations, complex stored procedures).
o Basic usage: queryForObject, queryForList, update, batchUpdate.
o Mapping results to Java objects using RowMapper.
• 5.3. Transaction Management Strategies (Beyond Basics):
o Programmatic Transactions:
▪ Using PlatformTransactionManager directly.
▪ Using TransactionTemplate for simpler programmatic transaction
demarcation.
o Distributed Transactions:
▪ Understanding JTA (Java Transaction API) and XA (eXtended Architecture).
▪ Two-Phase Commit (2PC) protocol.
▪ Integration with transaction managers like Atomikos or Narayana.
▪ Challenges and considerations in distributed environments (e.g., CAP
theorem implications).
• 5.4. Database Migration Tools:
o Flyway:
▪ Purpose: Managing database schema evolution using versioned SQL
scripts.
▪ Configuration (application.properties).
▪ Migration file naming conventions (V
▪ Commands: migrate, clean, info, validate.
o Liquibase:
▪ Purpose: Managing database schema evolution using change logs (XML,
YAML, JSON, SQL).
▪ Configuration (dependencies, application.properties).
▪ Changelog file structure and change sets.
▪ Commands: update, rollback, status, diff.
6. Spring Security Fundamentals: Securing Your Applications
• 6.1. Authentication:
o Form-Based Authentication: Setting up custom login pages, UserDetailsService (for
loading user-specific data), and password encoders (BCryptPasswordEncoder).
o HTTP Basic Authentication: Default behavior for Spring Security; understanding its
use for stateless APIs.
o JSON Web Tokens (JWT):
▪ Concept: Stateless authentication mechanism for REST APIs.
▪ Token generation (signing with secret key), parsing, and validation.
▪ Integrating JWT with Spring Security filters.
▪ Flow: User login -> JWT issued -> subsequent requests with JWT in
Authorization header.
• 6.2. Authorization:
o Roles: Assigning roles to users (e.g., ROLE_ADMIN, ROLE_USER).
o Permissions/Authorities: Fine-grained control over specific actions
(hasAuthority('WRITE_PRIVILEGE')).
o @PreAuthorize and @PostAuthorize for method-level security.
o Role Hierarchies (e.g., ROLE_ADMIN inherits ROLE_USER).
• 6.3. Configure Security Filters:
o Understanding Spring Security's Filter Chain.
o Customizing SecurityFilterChain with Java configuration.
o Adding custom filters (e.g., JWT authentication filter) to the chain.
o WebSecurityCustomizer for ignoring specific requests from the security filter chain.
• 6.4. Common Security Vulnerabilities & Best Practices:
o OWASP Top 10 overview (Injection, Broken Authentication, Sensitive Data
Exposure, XML External Entities (XXE), Broken Access Control, Security
Misconfiguration, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Insecure Deserialization, Using
Components with Known Vulnerabilities, Insufficient Logging & Monitoring).
o Preventing XSS and CSRF attacks.
o Secure password storage (salting and hashing).
o Input validation and sanitization.
o Securing sensitive configuration.
o HTTPS usage.
7. Testing Spring Boot Applications: Ensuring Quality
• 7.1. Unit Testing with JUnit and Mockito:
o JUnit 5 for writing test cases (@Test, @DisplayName, @BeforeEach, @AfterEach).
o Mockito for mocking dependencies (@Mock, @InjectMocks, when().thenReturn(),
verify()).
o Testing individual components (services, repositories) in isolation.
• 7.2. Integration Testing with @SpringBootTest and Test Slices:
o @SpringBootTest: Loading the full Spring application context for end-to-end
integration tests.
o @WebMvcTest: Testing the web layer (controllers) in isolation without the full
context.
o @DataJpaTest: Testing the JPA layer (repositories) in isolation with an in-memory
database.
o @JdbcTest, @RestClientTest, etc., for other specific layer testing.
o Using TestRestTemplate or MockMvc for making HTTP requests in tests.
• 7.3. Mock External Dependencies and Services:
o @MockBean: Replacing real beans in the application context with Mockito mocks
for integration tests.
o @SpyBean: Spying on existing beans to verify method calls.
o Using Testcontainers for spinning up real database instances or other services in
Docker for integration tests.
8. Deployment & Operations: Getting Your App to Users
• 8.1. Package as Executable JARs:
o How Spring Boot Maven/Gradle plugins create self-contained executable JARs.
o Running the JAR: java -jar your-app.jar.
• 8.2. Containerize with Docker:
o Writing optimized Dockerfile for Spring Boot applications (multi-stage builds, JRE
vs. JDK).
o Using Spring Boot Buildpacks for creating Docker images without a Dockerfile.
o Google Jib for building Docker images directly from Maven/Gradle.
o docker-compose for orchestrating multi-service applications locally.
• 8.3. Basic CI/CD Pipelines:
o Concepts: Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD).
o Setting up basic pipelines with tools like:
▪ GitHub Actions (workflow, jobs, steps).
▪ GitLab CI/CD.
▪ Jenkins.
▪ Integrating build, test, and deployment stages.
• 8.4. Effective Logging (Logback):
o Spring Boot's default logging with Logback.
o Configuring log levels (TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR).
o Writing log messages (Logger interface from SLF4J).
o Configuring logging to console and files.
o Log rotation and archiving.
• 8.5. Spring Boot Actuator for Monitoring and Management:
o Purpose: Provides production-ready features to monitor and manage your
application.
o Dependencies: spring-boot-starter-actuator.
o Endpoints:
▪ health: Application health status.
▪ info: Custom application information.
▪ metrics: JVM, system, and application metrics.
▪ env: Environment properties.
▪ beans: List of all Spring beans.
▪ httptrace: HTTP request-response traces.
▪ loggers: View and modify logger levels.
o Exposing and securing Actuator endpoints.
9. Advanced Spring Boot & Ecosystem Integration: Scaling and Distributed Systems
• 9.1. Microservices Architecture Patterns:
o Service Discovery:
▪ Concept: How microservices find each other dynamically.
▪ Spring Cloud Netflix Eureka: Setting up Eureka Server (discovery server)
and Eureka Clients (registering services).
o API Gateway:
▪ Concept: Single entry point for all client requests to microservices.
▪ Spring Cloud Gateway: Configuring routes, predicates, filters, and common
features (e.g., circuit breakers, rate limiting).
• 9.2. Integrate with Messaging Systems:
o Kafka:
▪ Purpose: High-throughput, fault-tolerant distributed streaming platform.
▪ Spring for Apache Kafka: spring-kafka dependency.
▪ Producing messages (KafkaTemplate).
▪ Consuming messages (@KafkaListener).
o RabbitMQ with Spring AMQP:
▪ Purpose: Robust, widely-used message broker implementing AMQP.
▪ Spring AMQP: spring-boot-starter-amqp dependency.
▪ Configuring queues, exchanges, and bindings.
▪ Publishing messages (RabbitTemplate).
▪ Consuming messages (@RabbitListener).
• 9.3. Delve into Reactive Programming with Spring WebFlux:
o Building reactive RESTful APIs (covered in section 3).
o Reactive Data Access:
▪ R2DBC (Reactive Relational Database Connectivity): Reactive alternative to
JDBC for non-blocking database interaction.
▪ ReactiveCrudRepository for reactive data access.
▪ Integrating with reactive NoSQL drivers (e.g., Spring Data MongoDB's
reactive support).
o Working with Mono and Flux (Project Reactor).
10. Performance, Best Practices & Continuous Learning: Mastering and Evolving
• 10.1. Performance Tuning Techniques:
o Startup Speed Optimization: Lazy initialization, reducing auto-configuration, using
native-image (GraalVM).
o Runtime Performance:
▪ Memory Optimization: JVM settings (Heap size, Garbage Collection tuning),
reducing object creation, using efficient data structures.
▪ Database Query Optimization: Efficient JPA queries, N+1 problem, proper
indexing, batch processing.
▪ Concurrency Management: Effective use of thread pools, asynchronous
programming.
▪ Caching: Spring Cache Abstraction (@Cacheable, @CacheEvict), integrating
with Redis or Caffeine for distributed/local caches.
• 10.2. Common Design Patterns:
o Reviewing patterns relevant to Spring: Singleton, Factory Method, Proxy, Template
Method, Strategy, Builder, Decorator, Adapter.
o How Spring Framework itself implements/promotes these patterns.
• 10.3. Clean and Maintainable Code:
o SOLID Principles (Single Responsibility, Open/Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface
Segregation, Dependency Inversion).
o DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle.
o KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle.
o Effective naming conventions, proper project structure, concise methods,
meaningful comments.
o Refactoring techniques.
• 10.4. Robust Error Handling:
o Centralized exception handling (@ControllerAdvice, @ExceptionHandler).
o Implementing resilience patterns: Retry mechanisms, Circuit Breaker (Resilience4j,
Hystrix - though Hystrix is deprecated).
o Logging and monitoring errors effectively.
o Providing informative error responses.
• 10.5. Resources for Continuous Learning:
o Official Documentation: Spring Boot Reference Guide, Spring Framework
Documentation, Spring Data Docs.
o Spring Guides: Practical, hands-on tutorials for specific features.
o Spring Blog & Videos: Stay updated with new releases and features.
o Community Forums: Stack Overflow, Spring Community Forum (for asking
questions and learning from others).
o Online Courses: Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight (for structured learning).
o Blogs and Tutorials: Baeldung, GeeksforGeeks, DigitalOcean, Medium (for in-depth
explanations and examples).
o Open Source Projects: Contribute to or learn from existing Spring Boot projects on
GitHub.
o Books: Classic and modern books on Spring and Java.