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Stop Reinventing the Wheel: 20 Efficient Utility Classes Built into Spring Boot

2 min read

Summary

EN: A guide to Spring Boot’s built-in utility classes that developers commonly reinvent. The article lists 20 utilities including Spring’s StringUtils, CollectionUtils, ReflectionUtils, Assert, and others. Content is truncated due to a member-only paywall — only the introduction and first utility class are visible.

ZH: 本文介紹 Spring Boot 內建的 20 個常被開發者重複實作的工具類，包含 Spring 的 StringUtils、CollectionUtils、ReflectionUtils、Assert 等。因付費牆導致內容截斷，僅可見引言與第一個工具類介紹。

Key Points

  • Spring provides extensive utility classes that avoid reinventing common string, collection, reflection, and assertion operations
  • StringUtils: null-safe string operations, trimming, comparison, checking empty/blank
  • Other utilities mentioned (from context): CollectionUtils (null-safe collection operations), ReflectionUtils (reflection helpers), Assert (precondition checks)
  • Using built-in utilities reduces dependencies on external libraries (Apache Commons, Guava) for common operations
  • Content is severely truncated — full list of 20 utilities not accessible

Insights

  • The “stop reinventing the wheel” framing echoes the DRY principle at the library level — don’t write StringUtils.isEmpty() when Spring already has a null-safe version
  • Spring’s Assert class is particularly useful: it throws IllegalArgumentException or IllegalStateException with descriptive messages, replacing verbose null-check patterns
  • The truncation means this article’s value is limited — a developer would need to access the full content

Connections

  • Directly complements the Spring Boot testing guide: the utility classes being discussed need testing, and Assert is used in test assertions
  • Connects to the DRY principle debate: built-in utilities are the “right abstraction” that Matthias Endler says emerges after enough duplication
  • Relates to the cache preheating article: StringUtils and Assert appear in the preheating code examples

Raw Excerpt

“Instead of writing your own null-safe isEmpty check, use Spring’s StringUtils.isEmpty(). Instead of if (list == null || list.isEmpty()), use CollectionUtils.isEmpty(list). Spring already has 20 such utilities built in — you’re probably reimplementing several of them.”

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