## TL;DR

Spring Boot (Pivotal/VMware, 2014) simplifies Java enterprise development with auto-configuration, embedded servers (Tomcat, Jetty), and starter dependencies. Built on the Spring Framework (2002), it is the dominant Java backend framework. Spring Boot 3.x requires Java 17+ and Jakarta EE.

## Core Explanation

Starters: `spring-boot-starter-web` adds REST support, `spring-boot-starter-data-jpa` for database. Auto-configuration: detects libraries on classpath and configures automatically. `@SpringBootApplication` = `@Configuration` + `@EnableAutoConfiguration` + `@ComponentScan`. Application properties: `application.yml`. Actuator: production-ready features (health, metrics, env).

## Further Reading

- [Spring Boot Documentation](https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/)