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Introduction

Spring Boot is a powerful, developer-friendly framework built on top of the Spring ecosystem. It enables Java developers to create stand-alone, production-grade applications with minimal configuration. Whether you're building REST APIs, web apps, or database-driven services, Spring Boot accelerates development while maintaining flexibility and scalability.

This guide introduces key Spring Boot concepts and tools, offering a practical roadmap to help you get started quickly.

📚 Table of Contents Overview​

  1. Why Spring Boot? This section explains the need for Spring Boot — how it simplifies Spring application setup, reduces boilerplate code, and provides embedded servers and default configurations to help you build and run Java apps faster.

  2. Auto Configuration Spring Boot's auto-configuration feature analyzes the classpath and application settings to automatically configure components like databases, web servers, and more — eliminating the need for manual setup.

  3. Build Web App Using Spring Boot and Thymeleaf Learn how to create a simple web application using Spring Boot along with Thymeleaf, a server-side Java template engine. This section covers controller setup, view rendering, and template integration.

  4. Spring Boot Dev Tools Explore developer productivity tools that allow hot reload, automatic restarts, and template caching control. These features reduce turnaround time during development and testing.

  5. Spring Boot H2 Database Understand how to integrate H2, an in-memory SQL database, into your Spring Boot app for rapid prototyping and testing without needing external database setup.

  6. Connecting to MySQL Database Move from in-memory to a persistent database by connecting your application to MySQL. Learn how to configure database credentials, define data sources, and use Spring Data JPA for entity management.

By the end of this guide, you'll have a solid foundation in Spring Boot fundamentals, the ability to build simple web apps, and the skills to connect your applications to both temporary (H2) and persistent (MySQL) databases.

Let’s begin building with Spring Boot — fast, flexible, and production-ready!