Top 5 Books and Courses to Learn RESTful Web Services in Java using Spring MVC and Spring Boot in 2023

Hello guys, If you are into web development then you know that Architecture is moving towards Microservices and RESTful web services are the first step to developing Microservices that can withstand the test of time. Spring Boot, in combination with Spring Web MVC (also known as Spring REST), makes it easy to develop RESTful web services.

I have said in the past that Spring MVC is the best tool to develop RESTful web services in Java but where to start? Don’t worry, if you want to learn Spring framework and REST full web service and looking for resources then you have come to the right place.

In this article, I am going to share the best books and courses you can read and join to learn how to build a production-quality RESTFul web service using Spring MVC and Spring Boot.

If you know the Spring framework, then there is a good chance that you have heard about the classic Spring in Action book by Craig Walls. It’s one of the best books to learn Spring, and many Java developers, including me, have learned Spring from that.

But, even though the Spring in Action 5th Edition is one of the best books to learn Spring framework, it’s just not enough to learn the intricacies of developing a modern, full-featured RESTful Web Service using Spring Framework.

It does have a chapter on developing RESTful Web Services. It nicely explains concepts like @RestController, @ResponseBody, @ResponseStatus, HTTP message converters, content negotiation, but that barely touches the surface of developing a production-quality RESTFul Web Service. I am not saying that it’s bad; in fact, it’s the best introductory material for REST with Spring framework, but you need to learn a lot more than just basics to develop a real-world REST API or RESTful client using Spring framework. There are many other things like filtering, pagination, error handling, versioning, and security of RESTful Web services using Spring and Spring security, which are not covered. This is where these books and courses come into the picture. They have focused on developing RESTful Web Service using Spring and cover the topic in reasonable detail, which is required to create a RESTful Web Service using Spring.

5 Best Books and Courses to Learn RESTFul Web Service using Spring in Java in 2023

You can also combine these books with some online courses like REST with Spring by Eugen Paraschiv and Rang Rao Karnam on Udemy. Eugen has rich experience in building and securing REST-based web services in the real world, which he generously shares in his popular course. There are, in fact, some free chapters which you can see here before you buy the course from his website. Anyway, let’s see the books first:

1. Building a RESTful Web Service with Spring

This is one of the latest and greatest books on the topic by Ludovic Dewailly, and it covers most of the things you need to learn for developing RESTful Web Services in Java using Spring. As I have said before, Even though the Spring in Action 5the edition is is the best book to learn Spring, it’s simply not good enough for learning RESTful Web Services. It does cover basics like @RestController, @ResponseBody, @ResponseStatus but doesn’t provide all the information required to work in real-world RESTful web services running in production. Many advanced concepts like filtering, pagination and security are not covered in that book; this is where Ludovic Dewailly’s book helps. It provides a deep dive into the principles behind REST and teaches you how to expose CRUD operations through RESTful endpoints with the Spring Framework. It also shows you techniques to secure your web services, versioning, maintaining backward compatibility, etc. You can also combine this book with the Master Java Web Services and RESTful API with the Spring Boot course by Ranga Karnam on Udemy to gain some hands-on practice. This combination of book and course will help you to learn REST API with Spring Boot better.

You will also learn the best ways to test your RESTful web services, including tips for load testing. Finally, it gives an excellent overview of advanced concepts like optimization and scaling web services using techniques such as caching and clustering.

In short, one of the most complete books and courses to develop RESTful Web Services using Spring. This book is intended for those who want to learn to build RESTful web services with the Spring Framework. To make the best use of the code samples included in the book, you should have a basic knowledge of the Java language. Previous experience with the Spring Framework would also help you get up and running quickly.

2. REST with Spring By Eugen Paraschiv

This is one of the best online training currently available to teach you to develop RESTful web services using Java and Spring. The author, Eugen Paraschiv, has extensive experience in developing RESTful web services in the real world, and he generously shares his experience in this course. You will only learn the basics of REST and Spring’s support for RESTful web services but also about advanced concepts like filtering, pagination, error handling, and security for your RESTful Web Services using Spring.

Here is the link to join this course — REST with Spring By Eugen Paraschiv

I strongly recommend the Master Class of REST with Spring training to get the complete knowledge required to work in production. He also has some free lessons from his course, which you can access before you purchase the course. That will give you a good idea about what you can get by joining his master class.

REST With Spring: The Master Class

The reference for building a production grade REST API with Spring. The 14 modules cover building and securing the API…

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3. Spring Microservices in Action

Spring Microservices in Action teaches you how to build microservice-based applications using Java and the Spring platform. Microservices break up your code into small, distributed, and independent services that require careful forethought and design. Fortunately, Spring Boot and Spring Cloud simplify your microservice applications, just as the Spring Framework simplifies enterprise Java development. Spring Boot removes the boilerplate code involved with writing a REST-based service. Spring Cloud provides a suite of tools for the discovery, routing, and deployment of Microservices to the enterprise and the cloud. When you buy the print version of this book, you will also get a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

Here is the link to buy this book — Spring Microservices in Action

Also, when it comes to learning Microservices within Java and Spring, I highly recommend the Master Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud course from Udemy. This is a great course to learn Microservice development in Java and more than 77,000 students have trusted this course.

10 Best Java Microservices Courses With Spring Boot and Spring Cloud in 2023

My favorite online courses to learn Microservices in Java using Spring Boot and Spring Cloud for beginners in 2023 from…

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4. Master Java Web Services and RESTful API with Spring Boot

This is another hands-on and project-based course to learn about Java Web Services, both REST and SOAP. Created by fellow Java developer and blogger In28Minutes Official this is a two-part course to teach you both RESTful web services and SOAP Web Services.

In the first part, you will learn the basics of RESTful web services developing resources for a social media application. You will learn to implement these resources with multiple features — versioning, exception handling, documentation (Swagger), basic authentication (Spring Security), filtering, and HATEOAS.

Here is the link to join this course —Master Java Web Services and RESTful API with Spring Boot

You will also learn the best practices in designing RESTful web services. Along the course you will learn how to use Spring, Spring MVC, Spring Boot, Spring Security, Spring Boot Actuator (Monitoring), Swagger (Documentation), Maven, Eclipse, Postman (REST Services Client), and Tomcat Embedded Web Server. Overall a complete course to learn RESTFul web services in Java with Spring

5.RESTful Web Services, Java, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, and JPA

This is one of the best courses to learn RESTFul WebService with Java and Spring. Created by Sergey Kargopolov this course aimed at beginner Java developers to help them build their very first RESTful Web Service application with Java, Spring MVC, Spring Boot, and Spring Data JPA with features like:

User sign-up and User sign-in,
Email verification and Password Reset,
Retrieve User Details using API
Get the list of a user API call and implement Pagination,
Update user details and Delete user details API calls,
Learn to secure Web Service endpoints with Spring Security,
Learn to use Amazon AWS Simple Email Service(SES) to send and request to confirm the user email address,
and learn to generate and include the JSON Web Token in HTTP Request.

You will also learn how to use Postman HTTP client software to send: HTTP POST, GET, DELETE and PUT requests, as well as how to set needed HTTP Headers.

Here is the link to join this course — RESTful Web Services, Java, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, and JPA

That’s all about some of the best books and online training courses to learn RESTful Web Services using Spring and Java. As I said, even though Spring in Action, which most of the Java and Spring developer own is a good book, it’s not enough for developing production-quality RESTful Web Services. These books, along with the RESTful Web Services in Java course from Udemy and REST with Spring course by Eugen Paraschive and is good enough to master the RESTFul Web Services development in Java with Spring and Spring Boot. Btw, don’t get overwhelmed with the number of books or content; to start with, you can just pick one book and course. As you progress and learn fundamentals, you can use other books for reference and solid your understanding of key concepts. Other Spring and Java resources for Developers

Thanks for reading this article. If you like these books and courses, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note. P. S. — If you are new to Spring and Spring Boot and wants to learn them in a code-focused and guided manner, you can also check out Eugen Paraschiv’s new Learn Spring: The Certification Class, which teaches Spring 5 and Spring Boot 2 from scratch, in a guided, code-focused way.

Learn Spring: The Certification Class

The class is meant to take you from literally no Spring experience to having a real-world, solid grasp of the…

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