What is it?

The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware in June 1999. The software produced is distributed under the terms of the Apache License as free or open source software. The ASF is a meritocracy, meaning that membership to the foundation is granted only to volunteers who have actively contributed to Apache projects. The projects currently in development include many frameworks including Axis, Cocoon, Forrest, Cayenne, iBATIS, Shale, Struts, Tapestry, Wicket, Felix, and Turbine.

Who is it for?

The ASF considers itself “a community of developers and users.” The Apache software can be used by anyone, from individuals to businesses including small to large hosting companies, but the main audience for frameworks is made up of Web developers. The frameworks are intended to facilitate software development, giving designers and programmers more time to meet software requirements rather than dealing with the details of providing a working system. A good framework allows developers to spend more time concentrating on a business-specific problem, not the code behind it. A framework also limits choices during development, thereby increasing productivity, especially in big and complex systems.

Features

Apache Axis is an open source, XML based Web service framework consisting of a Java and a C++ implementation of the SOAP server, plus various utilities and APIs for creating and utilizing Web service applications. Cocoon is an XML publishing framework focusing on XML and XSLT publishing and built using the Java programming language. Forrest is a documentation framework based upon Cocoon. It is an XML publishing framework that allows multiple types of data-files as input. Cayenne is a Java ORM framework providing object-relational mapping and remoting services. Cayenne binds one or more database schemas directly to Java objects. iBATIS is a persistence framework which enables mapping SQL queries to POJOs(Plain Old Java Objects). The SQL queries are unlinked from an application by putting the queries in XML files. Mapping of the retrieved objects is automatic or semi-automatic.

Shale is a Web application framework based on JavaServer Faces. It is a set of loosely coupled services that can be combined as needed to meet particular application requirements. Struts is a Java Web applications framework which uses and extends the Java Servlet API to encourage developers to use a model-view-controller architecture. Tapestry is a framework for creating dynamic, highly scalable Web applications in Java. It uses a modular approach to Web development by having strong binding between user interface components on the Web page and their corresponding Java classes.

Wicket is a component-based Java Web application framework for the Java programming language similar to JavaServer Faces and Tapestry. It uses plain XHTML for templating for a clearer separation of presentation and logic. Felix is a community effort to implement the OSGi R4 Service Platform, which includes the OSGi framework and standard services, as well as providing and supporting other OSGi-related technologies. Turbine is a servlet based framework that allows experienced Java developers to quickly build Web applications. It allows personalization of Web sites and the use of user logins to restrict access to parts of the application.

Compatibility

Many Web application frameworks available from Apache are written in the Java language. Some others support PHP or ColdFusion. Downloads for all frameworks are available through mirror sites. The frameworks are built for independent operating systems and require Web-based user interfaces.

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