Kotlin + Spring + Vue: Introduction

Let's begin...
In this section I provide a small overview of used tools in this tutorial.

Objectives

First of all, I'm not saying that stack of Kotlin, Spring Boot and Vue.js is the best choice or a silver bullet. This is just one of many ways to develop a web application.

In this guide, I would like to explain how to implement the following functionality required for the vast majority of web applications:

CI/CD pipeline
REST API
Database interaction
Authentication and role-based data access control
Spam protection
Email messaging

Tools

Kotlin

Kotlin is a cross-platform, statically typed, general-purpose programming language with type inference. Kotlin is designed to interoperate fully with Java, and the JVM version of its standard library depends on the Java Class Library, but type inference allows its syntax to be more concise. Kotlin mainly targets the JVM, but also compiles to JavaScript or native code (via LLVM). Kotlin is sponsored by JetBrains and Google through the Kotlin Foundation.

Kotlin is officially supported by Google for mobile development on Android. Since the release of Android Studio 3.0 in October 2017, Kotlin is included as an alternative to the standard Java compiler. The Android Kotlin compiler lets the user choose between targeting Java 6 or Java 8 compatible bytecode.

Kotlin has been Google’s preferred language for Android app development since 7 May 2019.

Wikipedia

Why Kotlin?

Promising Java alternative
More advanced and flexible syntax than in Java
More suitable for rapid application development and lightweight applications than Scala
Drastically reduce the amount of boilerplate code
Avoid entire classes of errors such as null pointer exceptions
Leverage existing libraries for the JVM, Android, and the browser
Choose any Java IDE or build from the command line

Spring Boot

Spring Boot is an open source Java-based framework that makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run".

npm

npm is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language. It is the default package manager for the JavaScript runtime environment Node.js. It consists of a command line client, also called npm, and an online database of public and paid-for private packages, called the npm registry.

Wikipedia

This is a required element for development using Vue.js.
Install npm

Vue.js

Vue.js is an open-source JavaScript framework for building user interfaces and single-page applications.

Why Vue.js?

Small size
Easy to understand and quick start
Flexibility
Detailed documentation
Two-way communication
Integration with Bootstrap
Allow to reuse code
Fast coding speed
Reactivity
Component based

Install Vue.js

Git (GitHub) (Optional)

Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in source code during software development. It is designed for coordinating work among programmers, but it can be used to track changes in any set of files. Its goals include speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows.

Wikipedia

GitHub is an American company that provides hosting for software development version control using Git.

Wikipedia

For small/personal projects or if you're novice in Git, I recommend to use GitHub Desktop application.

Heroku (Optional)

Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud.
I recommend to use Heroku to host your application and make it available via Internet.

IntelliJ IDEA (Optional)

IntelliJ IDEA is a Java integrated development environment for developing computer software. It is developed by JetBrains, and is available as an Apache 2 Licensed community edition, and in a proprietary commercial edition. Both can be used for commercial development.

Wikipedia

I recommend this IDE because of its convenience, flexibility, speed and functionality. I have used NetBeans, Eclipse and Spring Tool Suite before, but my final choice is IntelliJ IDEA.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code (Optional)

Visual Studio Code is a source-code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. It includes support for debugging, embedded Git control and GitHub, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring.

Wikipedia

I recommend to use Visual Studio Code for frontend development, because it has convenient free Vue.js plugin called Vetur. Development process becomes faster and more enjoyable when syntax constructions in your code are highlighted and project is structured!
With Vetur Visual Studio Code really looks like IDE, and not just like regular code editor.