Beginner’s Guide to Spring Boot (2023)

6 min readAug 1, 2023

Topic: Introduction to Spring boot

Lets start our journey of learning spring boot with practical approach. I have taken into consideration that many of you have just started learning Spring Boot or have recently begun your software development journey.

That is why, in this tutorial, I will guide you through the process of setting up a Spring Boot project from scratch and creating a simple “Hello, World!” application. By the end of this step-by-step guide, you’ll have a clear understanding of Spring Boot basics, and you’ll be well on your way to move to next upcoming Spring boot series. To truly benefit from this Spring Boot series, it is imperative that you follow this guide practically.

Prerequisites 📚
Setting up the Development Environment 🔧
Creating a New Spring Boot Project 🌱
Building the “Hello, World!” Application 🚀
Running the Application ▶️
Conclusion 🎉
Spring boot Interview Questions ❓

1. Prerequisites

Before we dive into creating our Spring Boot project, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

Basic knowledge of Java programming language.
Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your system. Install it from here: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse.
Familiarity with the concept of Maven (or Gradle) for project management (though we’ll be using Maven in this tutorial).

Follow this amazing step by step guide to install maven: https://www.baeldung.com/install-maven-on-windows-linux-mac

2. Setting up the Development Environment

The first crucial step is to set up the development environment correctly. Ensure that you have your preferred IDE installed and configured correctly. I will be using Eclipse IDE through this guide. Additionally, make sure the JDK is correctly installed on your system and that the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set.

If you need help please follow this guide here: https://www.baeldung.com/java-home-on-windows-7-8-10-mac-os-x-linux

3. Creating a New Spring Boot Project

Let’s get started by creating a new Spring Boot project. There are various ways to create a Spring Boot project, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll use the Spring Initializer, which provides a web-based interface to generate a project skeleton.

Follow these steps:

Open your web browser and navigate to the Spring Initializr.
Select Maven as the project type.
Choose a suitable Spring Boot version (e.g. 3.1.2).
Choose a suitable Java version (e.g., Java 17).
Enter your desired project Group, Artifact, and Name.
Now, add the necessary dependencies according to your project needs. I am adding Spring Web and Spring Boot DevTools in the project. These dependencies are not required for this project. Since, I’m not using any web controller for this project. It is just to show you how we can add dependencies into an spring boot project.
Click on the Generate button to download the project zip file.

4. Building the “Hello, World!” Application

With our project created, let’s move on to building our “Hello, World!” application. Follow these steps:

Extract the downloaded zip file to your preferred location.
Open your IDE and import the project as a Maven project.
Once the project is successfully imported into your IDE, navigate to the src/main/java directory. Open the main Java class, usually named as “Application.java” or similar.
In the main class, write a simple code that prints “Hello, World!” to the console as provided below.

Image: Project Structure — HelloworldApplication

Main Class:

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class HelloworldApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(HelloworldApplication.class, args);
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }

}

5. Running the Application

It’s time to see our “Hello, World!” application in action. Follow these steps:

Right click on your main class “HelloworldApplication.java”. Then select Run As -> Java Application

6. Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a Spring Boot “Hello, World!” application from scratch. Throughout this tutorial, I’ve covered the essential steps to set up your development environment, create a new Spring Boot project using the Spring Initializr, and build a simple Spring boot application that greets you with a friendly “Hello, World!” message.

This is just the beginning of your Spring Boot journey. The framework offers a wide range of features, including dependency injection, data access, security, and much more. Continue exploring the Spring Boot documentation and experimenting with various features to enhance your application development skills further.

Now I will provide you some interview questions that will help you to prepare for your next Spring boot interview. . You can also checkout my article on 9 essential functionalities in Spring boot.

Most Asked Spring Boot Questions in Interviews:

How does Spring Boot simplify the process of building and deploying applications?
What benefits does Spring Boot offer in terms of auto-configuration and starters?
What role does Spring Initializr play in creating Spring Boot projects?
What is the significance of the main Java class in a Spring Boot application?
What is the purpose of the @SpringBootApplication annotation?
What are some real-world scenarios where Spring Boot shines as a framework?
How does Spring Boot streamline the development process and boost productivity for developers?
What are the essential dependencies needed for a Spring Boot project?
What is the purpose of the Spring Web dependency in a Spring Boot project?
What are the key features provided by the Spring Web module?
What annotations are commonly used in a Spring Boot application, and how do they work?
How do you run a Spring Boot application and view its output?
What are the common challenges or errors that beginners might encounter while creating a Spring Boot project, and how can they be resolved?
How does Maven simplify the management of dependencies in a Spring Boot project?
What is the role of the pom.xml file in a Spring Boot project?
How do you package a Spring Boot application into an executable JAR or WAR file using Maven?
What is the purpose of the mvn clean command in a Spring Boot project, and when would you use it?
What is the purpose of the mvn spring-boot:run command, and how does it differ from mvn spring-boot:build?
What is a standalone application, and how does it differ from a web application?
How do you decide whether a project should be developed as a standalone application or a web application?

If this article helps you understand about Spring Boot, give it a round of applause 👏 and subscribe to stay updated! 📚 I will be providing answers to all of these questions in my next post. 📝 Please let me know if there’s anything specific you would like me to fix or include. Happy learning! 🚀