Spring Office Hours

Join Dan Vega and DaShaun Carter for the latest updates from the Spring ecosystem. In this episode, they welcome Daniel Garnier-Moiroux, Spring Security engineer and author of Testing Spring Boot Applications from Manning. Dan and DaShaun dig into Daniel's new book, his perspective on AI and MCP security, and what good testing looks like in modern Spring applications. Join live for a chance to win a copy of the book!Show Notes: Daniel Garnier-MoirouxTesting Spring Boot Applications (promo code: springoffhr)

Billy Korando, Java Developer Advocate at Oracle, talks JDK 26 highlights and OpenJDK roadmaps in a lively tech chat. They cover integrity-by-default changes, HTTP/3 and QUIC support, virtual threads and structured concurrency progress. Also discussed: removal of legacy APIs, Project Babylon for native/GPU compute, and resources to get started with new Java features.

Conference buzz and hallway-track energy from DevNexus and community meetups. AI in software: practical small wins, agentic workflows, and the shift from prompt to context and skill engineering. Tooling and security for skills, onboarding agents, and MCP versus skill tradeoffs. Java momentum, upcoming Java 26 news, and strategies for continuous modernization and developer productivity.

Glenn Renfro, Spring developer and Atlanta Java Users Group board member who helps organize DevNexus, previews the conference. He highlights Spring project representation, must-see Spring talks, and VMware Tanzu activities. Expect tips on networking, speaker mentorship, AI-focused tracks, and practical conference takeaways.

Bruno Borges, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft/GitHub who works on GitHub Copilot and AI developer tools. He explores the Copilot CLI and the Copilot Java SDK. Short takes cover agentic workflows that automate upgrades and refactors. Discussion includes embedding AI into JVM tooling, repo automation, triaging PRs, and high-ROI uses like SRE troubleshooting and backlog triage.

Juergen Hoeller, co-founder and long-time lead architect of the Spring Framework, reflects on 25 years shaping the project. He discusses Spring Framework 7’s design choices, Jakarta and JDK 17 moves, early support for new libraries, nullability, Bean Registrar API, AOT and virtual-thread readiness. Short, technical, and forward-looking conversation about keeping Spring flexible at scale.

Join Dan Vega and DaShaun Carter for an exploration of the modern Java landscape with James Ward, Principal Developer Advocate at AWS. In this episode, we bridge the gap between Spring Boot and the AWS cloud, diving into how developers can leverage Amazon Bedrock and Spring AI to build production-ready applications. James will share his "no-nonsense" take on building agentic systems, including a look at the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and how it allows Spring developers to connect AI agents to their internal data and services securely.  You can participate in our live stream to ask questions or catch the replay on your preferred podcast platform.Show Notes: DevNexushttps://jamesward.com James Ward on LinkedIn

Christian Tzolov, a Spring AI engineer working on the MCP Java SDK and AI tooling, discusses agentic patterns for building autonomous AI that can reason, plan, and execute tasks. He covers agent architectures, skills and progressive disclosure, tool calling and ACP integration, vector stores versus tool use, and best practices for authoring and sharing reusable skills.

Foundational setup for getting started with the Spring ecosystem. Practical choices like Java versions, Maven vs Gradle, and using Spring Boot and start.spring. Discussion of why frameworks like Spring exist, core patterns such as dependency injection, and where Spring fits beyond web apps. Advice on learning paths, using AI as a pair, and contributing to open source.

Dan and DaShaun dive into a vibrant community Q&A, tackling everything from upcoming conference plans to using AI for better presentation submissions. They discuss the balance between mastering AI tools and learning fundamentals, while recommending practical steps for adopting tech incrementally. The duo highlights new features in the Spring ecosystem, including updates on Spring AI, and promotes effective practices like prompt caching to optimize usage. They round off with insights on productivity automation and soliciting community input for future topics.