PLAY FRAMEWORK

PLAY Framework can be termed as the Rails for JAVA. It has made development using Java much simpler. Play leverages the power of Java . It makes it straight forward to build web applications in an environment that is not Java Enterprise centric.

The main seemingly advantages of play are :
a. No configuration required – download and develop
b. Integrated unit testing
c. Play comes with a lot of stuff already built in
d. CRUD – admin UI can be built easily
e. Deployment process is simpler

Play makes use of several popular Java libraries:
▪ JBoss Netty for the web server
▪ Hibernate for the data layer
▪ Groovy for the template engine
▪ The Eclipse compiler for hot-reloading
Apache Ivy for dependency management

Play leverages the advantages of Agile development processes and targets restful architecture.
The integrated test runner makes it easy for you do test-driven development. You can write all kinds of tests, from simple unit tests to full acceptance tests, and run them directly in a browser using Selenium. Code coverage can also measured.

At Siddhatech we have successfully completed more than 3 large portals in PLAY. The richness of the framework and the advantage of a JAVA environment definitely have raised the bar for PLAY.
It is difficult though to compare it against the other well know frameworks like SYMFONY , DJango and Rails since PLAY provides all the features that these frameworks also offer . Though this is not an apples to oranges comparison – PLAY still is relatively new – but it wont be long before the seasoned JAVA developers embrace it. JAVA with the simplicity of RAILS , DJango and SYMFONY – a dangerously winning combination.