Butterfly is a modular web application framework written in Java but mainly focused on the use of Javascript on both the client-side and the server-side to make it easier for client-side web developers to move on the server.

It also aims at simplifying the making of web applications by maximizing webapp modularity and code reuse across different web applications.

It also aims to be extremely small, lightweight and simple to use, with a minimal set of dependencies on libraries other than the Servlet API and with the idea that you should be able to reuse stuff without having to cut and paste them.

But being written in Java, it also has access the entire range of existing Java libraries for you to use and fits right into your existing Java webapp serving infrastructure.

Where do I find some documentation?

The best place to start is the Butterfly User Guide.

There is also a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their relative answers.

What do I need to run it?

Butterfly is depends on the following:

• A Java 1.4 or later compatible virtual machine for your operating system.
• An installation of Apache Maven 2.0 or later
• [optional] A servlet container (such as Jetty, Apache Tomcat, etc..) or any J2EE compatible application server (such as Apache Geromino, JBoss, WebSphere, Orion, Weblogic, etc..)

Note: a servlet container is required only if you want to deploy a Butterfly-based app in your existing servlet environment. If you want to experiment with it, you don't need it.

Note: Maven is required for you to build Butterfly, but not to run it (if, of course, you have a servlet engine).

Licensing and legal issues

Butterfly is open source software and is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Note that although Butterfly depends on various libraries for its operation, no external library is distributed bundled with it (all the dependencies are downloaded by maven).

Credits

This software was created and is maintained by the Simile Project and in particular:

• Stefano Mazzocchi <stefanom at mit.edu>