Top 5 Books to Learn Spring framework and Spring MVC for Java Programmers

Spring and Spring MVC is one of the most popular Java frameworks, and most of the new Java projects use Spring these days. Java programmer often asks questions like which books are good to learn Spring MVC or What is the best book to learn Spring framework etc. Actually, there are many books to learn Spring and Spring MVC, but only certain books can be considered good because of their content, examples, or the way they explained the concept involved in the Spring framework. Similar toTop 5 books on Java programming, we will some good books on Spring in this article, which not only help beginners to start with Spring but also teaches some best practices.

To learn a new technology or a new framework, probably the best way is to start looking for documentation provided, and Spring Framework is no short on this. Spring offers excellent, detailed documentation to use various features of the Spring framework, but despite that, nothing can replace a good book.

Luckily both Spring and Spring MVC got a couple of good titles which not only explain concepts like Dependency Injection and Inversion of Control, which is core to spring framework but also gives coverage to another essential aspect of Spring. The following are some of the good books available on Spring and Spring MVC, which can help you to learn Spring.

Java Developers also often learn Spring and Hibernate together because of the massive demand of Java Web developers with Hibernate and Spring in their CV. So, if you are looking for some great books to learn Hibernate along with Spring, then you can also check out my post 5 Great Books to Learn Hibernate.

Top 5 Books on Spring Framework and Spring MVC

Here is my list of top 5 good books to learn Spring MVC and Spring framework. Let me know if you come across any other great book in Spring, which is worth adding to this list.

1.Spring in Action(5th Edition)

Lots of my readers suggested  Spring in Action from Manning as one of the best books to learn Spring. It seems like a worth reading book. I have seen it's content briefly, and it does cover both Spring and Spring MVC.

So if you are looking for a popular book to learn both Spring MVC for web development and Spring core for using Spring framework as DI and IOC container in core Java application, then Spring in Action is definitely the right choice.

For quicker and better learning, you can also combine this book with the Spring Framework 5: Beginner to Gurucourse which helps you with the initial setup and provide more active learning.

2.ExpertSpring MVC and Web Flow

Expert Spring MVC and Web Flow by Seth Ladd, Darren Davison, Steven Devijver, Colin Yates is one of my favorite books on Spring MVC and arguably one of the best books in Spring MVC. It covers both Spring MVC and web flow in-depth and explains each concept with a simple explanation.

I highly recommend this book to any beginner who is learning the Spring MVC framework. Their chapter on Spring fundamentals is also one of the best ways to learn dependency injection and inversion of control in Spring, and I myself learned DI and IOC from that chapter.

This is the Spring book I recommend to any Java web developer who is familiar with Java web technology or any MVC framework like Struts. Also, in my opinion, their chapter on Spring Fundamentals is one of the best ways to start with the Spring framework.

The only missing point is that this book only covers Spring MVC and web flow and does not cover the whole Spring framework. If you want a comprehensive guide then you can also join Spring Master Class - Beginner to Expertcourse along with this book to learn both Spring MVC and Spring Core in depth. This course is a perfect companion to this book as it covers areas that are not covered in the book.

3.Spring 5 Recipes – A problem-solution approach

This is another good book on Spring Framework, which I like most. This book is a collection of Spring recipes or How to do it in Spring Framework. In every Spring recipe, you learn some new concepts, and it also helps to learn Spring fundamental, like their recipes, help me to learn when to use ApplicationContext and BeanFactory and Constructor vs. Setter Injection.

A key highlight of this book is, It’s a problem solution approach. Since it’s teaching style is different than any popular book, it’s a good supplement along with Spring documentation. These books also provide excellent coverage of many spring technologies, likeSpring Security, Spring Boot, Microservices, Spring JDBC, Spring and EJB, JMX, Email, and have a chapter on scripting as well.

If you like books on the problem-solution approach, then you will enjoy reading Spring Recipes, not the best book in Spring but still a good one and will definitely make any list of top 10 books on Spring framework.

4.ProfessionalJava Development with the Spring Framework

The main highlight of this book is that one of its authors is Rod Johnson, who has also created the Spring framework. So you get his view on Spring and How Spring should be used, what are best practices to follow in Spring, likeWhen to use Setter Injection and Constructor Injection.

This book provides good coverage of the Spring framework, including Spring-core, Spring MVC, Spring ORM support, etc. Also, examples in this book are easy to understand, and it also focuses on Unit tests which are good practice.

Though I don’t rate this book too high as if your focus is Spring MVC than Expert Spring MVC and Web flow is the best Spring book to follow. If you are looking for an overview of Spring features, then Spring Documentation is the best book to read.

As I said, the positive point of this book is knowing Spring from author Rod Johnson himself. Once you have basic knowledge of the Spring framework, you can read this book to get the authors to view.

5.Pro Spring 5.0

Pro Spring is one of the best books to learn Spring Framework from the start. This book is massive and tries to cover most of the Spring concept, like Spring fundamentals, JDBC Support, Transaction support, Spring AOP, Spring Web MVC, Spring Testing, etc.

Good point about this book is that it’s conventional and easy to read, it explains the concept, followed with a good example, which is a good way to learn. What is worrying is sheer size; I haven’t completed this book to date and only refer to some topic.

The good point is that this book covers Spring 5.0, which is the latest stable version. As I said, this is one of the most comprehensive books on Spring framework, and anyone who wants to learn Spring framework by following just one book, Pro Spring 5.0 is a good choice.

6. Spring Documentation

Spring framework documentation is located on the SpringSource website, here is the link for Spring documentation for Spring framework 3.1 in HTML format https://spring.io/docs Though this is not a book, Spring tutorials, and Spring documentation is another two sources of learning Spring framework, which I highly recommend.

The main reason for that is they are free and highly comprehensive and has a lot of examples to support various concept and feature. Also, one of the best parts of reference documentation is that they are updated with the latest Spring release available.

Updating books with every new version of Spring is somewhat tricky than updating documentation. Spring documentation combines with any Spring book is the best way to learn Spring framework. For learning Spring MVC, you can connect Spring documentation with earlier spring book, Expert Spring MVC and Web Flow and Spring Framework 5: Beginner to Guru  courses for practical, hands-on learning.

These are some of the best books to learn Spring framework and Spring MVC. Spring documentation is unique because of updates and new releases of Spring Framework. Given the popularity of the Spring Framework for new Java development work, every Java developer should make an effort to learn the Spring framework.

Other Recommend Books and Courses for Java Programmers

• Spring Fundamentals By Bryan Hansen (course)
• The Complete Java Developer RoadMap (guide)
• Top 10 Spring Boot Courses for Java Developers (courses)
• 5 Great Books to Learn Hibernate for Java Developers (see here)
• Introduction to Spring MVC 4 By Bryan Hansen (see)
• 10 Books Every Programmer Should Read (read more)
• Top 5 Data Structure and Algorithm Books - Best of a lot, Must read (see here)
• 5 Great Books to Learn Java 8 in Quick time (see here)
• 10 Great books to Learn Programming Algorithms  (read more)
• 11 Great FREE Java Programming Books PDF (download)
• Top 5 Courses to learn Spring Cloud (courses)
• Top 5 Courses to learn Spring Framework in-depth (courses)
• 5 Spring Framework Books Experienced Programmer should Read (books)

P.S. - If you want to learn how to develop RESTful Web Service using Spring MVC in-depth, I suggest you join the REST with Spring certification class by Eugen Paraschiv. One of the best courses to learn REST with Spring MVC.