Review - Starter Class of Build Your REST API With Spring

I completed the Starter Class of Build Your Rest API with Spring. This course was developed by Eugen Paraschiv and is the first part of a 3 part course in learning how to use Spring to create REST web services.

Please note that I have not received anything of value for this review and paid the standard price for the course.

Eugen is a very knowledgable Java programmer and I have learned much from reading his many tutorials.

The starter class is broken down into 3 sub-courses:

1. The Basics of REST with Spring
2. REST and HTTP Semantics
3. Simple Security for REST

Each sub-courses consists of several modules. A module includes a a video narrated by Eugen where he goes over a specific topic. The videos are usually between 10 to 15 minutes long.

There is a project example that goes with each sub-course.

Overall I really enjoyed the starter class and learned quite a bit. I recommend this course for anyone who has some experience using Spring Web MVC and experience with using Spring MVC to create REST web services. If you are not familiar with Spring Web MVC and using Spring MVC to create REST web services then I recommend you first learn those technologies before starting this course. The starter class, despite its name, does not go into detail on how to write Spring controller classes that act as REST end points.

Pros:

• Videos are well produced and easy to follow
• Extensive material on how to handle exceptions and return meaningful response to the client
• Good examples of input validation
• How to use Java configuration for setting up Spring REST
• Best practices for REST URIs
• Code projects provide excellent examples of how to implement what the videos discuss
• Quick email support from Eugen

Cons:

• Missing details about how to create Spring controller classes that act as REST end points
• Code projects need ReadMe files that describe how to build and deploy in various environments
• Videos need to provide better direction on how to find the code being explained in the code projects

The cost of the starter class is well-worth what you get. I think Eugen will eventually add a module that goes through the basics of using Spring to create controller classes that act as REST end points. Once that module is added I would recommend this course for all Java programmers using Spring.