Which Java Backend Technologies Are Outdated and What to Learn Instead

Recently the author received many private messages asking whether certain Java technologies are worth learning, especially from readers abroad interested in Java graphics, and decided to share his perspective.

With nearly 20 years of experience in Java, the author has witnessed the evolution of Java EE frameworks (from a chaotic landscape to Spring dominance), web development stacks (from SSH to Spring MVC + MyBatis), and IDEs (from JBuilder to Eclipse and finally IDEA). This article focuses on Java knowledge that is now considered outdated and unnecessary to study further.

The assessment criteria are: 1) whether it is used in real‑world development, 2) whether it deepens technical understanding, and 3) whether it helps in job interviews.

JSP

JSP serves as the View layer in traditional MVC, but modern development has largely moved to front‑end‑back‑end separation using REST APIs and client‑side frameworks, making JSP and similar template engines less relevant. The recommendation is to stop learning JSP.

Struts

Although Struts was once a solid MVC framework, Spring (especially Spring MVC) has become the de‑facto one‑stop solution for Java development. New projects favor Spring MVC, so beginners should start with Spring MVC instead of Struts.

Hibernate

Hibernate is a powerful but heavyweight ORM that brings high learning cost, complex configuration, and difficult performance tuning. For performance‑critical applications, its abstraction can be a drawback. MyBatis offers a lighter, hybrid approach that retains SQL control while simplifying configuration. The advice is to learn MyBatis rather than Hibernate.

Servlet (must master)

Even though pure Servlets are rarely used to build full web applications today, they remain the foundation of Java web containers and underlie all MVC frameworks, including Spring MVC. Mastering the Servlet lifecycle enables deep customizations such as request/response interception and security handling. Therefore, learning Servlets thoroughly is essential.

Other technologies

Applet: obsolete and replaced by modern web technologies. Swing: desktop UI framework rarely used in enterprise; C++/C# dominate desktop development. JDBC: lower‑level database access; most frameworks abstract it, so it can be deprioritized if time is limited. XML: still used but increasingly supplanted by JSON; a basic understanding suffices.

Original source link: https://www.zhihu.com/question/305924723/answer/557800752