The Spring Framework is a major open source application development framework that makes Java/J2EE develop- ment easier and more productive. Spring offers services that you can use in a wide range of environments, from applets and standalone clients through web applications running in a simple servlet engine to complex enterprise applications running in a full-blown J2EE application server. Spring enables a POJO programming model that decouples your code from its environment, pro- tecting your investment in the face of change. Spring works on JDK 1.3 and later, taking advantage of JDK 1.4 and 1.5 features if available. Spring’s J2EE services run on J2EE 1.2 and later. This book will show you how you can use all the major parts of Spring to help you develop successful applications. You’ll learn not just what Spring does, but why. You will gain insight into best practices when using the framework, and you will see a complete sample application.