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# Prerequisites

* Solid understanding of Java
* Object-oriented programming
* Classes, methods and interfaces
* Basic understanding of databases
* Tables, primary keys, foreign keys, relationships, etc.
* Write basic SQL statements

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# What is a Spring Framework?

**Spring** -- is a popular framework for building Java applications. It has a lot of modules, each designed to handle a specific task. They are combined into few different layers.

![Spring layers](assets/spring-layers.svg) 
*Img. 1 -- Spring layers*

| **Layer** | **Purpose** |
| ------------- | -------------- | 
| *Core* | Handling dependency injection, managing objects |
| *Web* | Building web applications |
| *Data* | Working with databases |
| *AOP* | Aspect oriented programming |
| *Test* | Testing spring components |

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While the spring framework is powerfull, using it often involves a lot of configuration. For example, if you want to build a web app you might need to setup a web server, configure routing and manage dependencies manually. That's when **Spring Boot** comes in.

You can think of spring boot as a layer on top of the spring framework, that takes care of all of the setup.