Matt Raible Compares Six Java Web Frameworks

Summary
Matt Raible's presentation comparing six Java Web frameworks is now available online in a video format. The talk, given at the JavaZone conference in Oslo earlier this fall, compares JSF, Spring/MVC, Stripes, Struts 2, Tapestry, and Wicket. Raible also has updated presentation slides that include GWT, Seam, and Flex in the comparison as well.
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With the proliferation of Java Web frameworks in recent years comes the difficulty for developers to choose a framework most suited to a task. In a recent presentation at the JavaZone conference earlier this Fall, Matt Raible, author of the AppFuse meta-framework, compares six popular Java Web frameworks. The video of the presentation was recently made available. Raible notes that in choosing which frameworks to compare,

My criteria is... is [the framework] made for the Web developer. What I found was that in Java land there are too many frameworks that are made for the Java developer. But, at the same time, maybe there are too many Java developers that are just Java developers.

But people who develop Web applications in the greater scheme of things... a lot of times they have a team... that does the graphics, that does the CSS, the JavaScript. And some of these frameworks just don't interact with them as well. They take control of everything...

Raible also points out that even though frameworks are popular topics of articles and blog posts, not every Java or Web developer uses a Web framework beyond basic servlets and JSPs, and that some of the most talked-about frameworks are, in fact, not used by all that many developers:

If you read blogs and go to conferences, you'd tend to think that a lot of these frameworks are a lot more popular than they actually are... Some of these frameworks aren't really used by that many people. You just have to be careful when you're reading articles and blogs [about] people saying [that a] framework is so great, and so popular, because, in reality, it isn't. [Some frameworks] may be more popular than others... but in the greater scheme of things, they aren't [that popular].

The frameworks Raible compares are JSF, Spring/MVC, Stripes, Struts 2, Tapestry, and Wicket:

The heavy hitters in Java are Struts 1, Spring MVC, Tapestry, and JSF. Those are the ones used by the most number of people. WebWork ... was one of these elegant frameworks that only a small number of people used. Since it merged with the Struts project, which has become Struts 2, it's getting a lot more exposure... Stripes and Wicket, I added those because so many people commented on my blog, [asking if] I have tried those. I found that they were pretty nice. I was able to learn each of these [to a level] to be productive in about eight hours.

[The comparison is] written very much from a developer's perspective, not from the perspective of a company adopting a framework. It's very different when a company adopts a framework versus when a team of developer adopt a framework...

Raible also provides updated presentation slides on his Web site that include GWT, Seam, and Flex as well:

While creating the 2nd presentation, I found a couple things that surprised me. The first is how popular Flex is - not only in job listings, but also in skilled developers and mailing list traffic. Below is a graph that shows how there aren't many jobs for most of the frameworks, but there's lots for Flex.

What do you think of Raible's comparison and of his choice of frameworks? (artima.com)