TOP 15 Java Project Ideas for Beginners in 2024 [New LIST]

Get to understand all about Java project ideas from this tutorial to learn how to build these and gain a better knowledge of complex systems in Core Java Projects:

Java project ideas are a very common question, especially for students in the third or final year of Computer Science or aligned disciplines or for someone who is looking for Java project ideas for beginners.

But whatever the case, Java due to its ubiquitous nature, has been in constant demand for almost 2 decades and is going to be relevant for a lot more time.

Java is everywhere – from mobile phones to big and complex mainframe systems. Java was introduced in the 1990s and was originally named “Oak”.

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Java Projects – A Detailed Review

Not only the backend, but you can use it to make frontend applications using Web Servlets or JSP aka Java Server Pages.

In this tutorial, we will talk about Java projects for beginners and experienced professionals, that could be chosen and built to further strengthen the understanding of the language as well as gain insights into the architecture and different components a system might need.

We will discuss easy-to-implement project ideas like Reservation or Attendance Systems as well as some fun projects like building a Tic tac toe game and what technologies could be used to implement the same.

Why Java

As we have seen in the above section, Java continues to be one of the most used languages. Some of the big pros that help Java to retain its popularity are as below:

• Easy to learn and understand: It’s a compiled and strongly typed language built with easy-to-learn syntax and simple debugging of the applications.
• A rich set of Java APIs and a huge ecosystem of developers around the globe help the community thrive and build useful reusable libraries and components.
• Powerful tooling ecosystem: Some examples of tools written in Java include likes of building tools like Gradle and Maven and one of the most popular CI servers, Jenkins.
• Platform independent: Java supports multiple platforms – at both source and binary levels.
• Robust and Secure: Features like memory management and automatic garbage collection make it highly robust and secure.

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FAQs on Core Java Projects

Q #1) What are some beginner Java projects?

Answer: As a beginner, fresh out of college, or taking up something for your final year assignment, you should consider choosing something that doesn’t have a broad scope.

So start with some smaller systems like Library Management or Airline Reservation which would typically have a very trivial Frontend and a Data layer that could be easily built using MySQL or any other open source-based database providers.

The backend can be built using core Java libraries as well as common framework libraries like Spring Boot.

Q #2) What are good Java projects for resumes?

Answer: Depending upon your interest and the domains that you have worked on, you can choose to build such Java projects which could definitely add value to your resume. So for instance, if you are building a chat application feature, consider trying out a Social Media Site project in Java and integrating the chat feature within that.

This kind of project would help you to expand your existing knowledge and look at the systems more from an architectural standpoint in addition to enhancing your core Java skills.

Q #3) Which Java project is best?

Answer: The definition of best is relative and would depend on which area you are interested to explore. Other than technology, you should also choose a domain that you are interested in and comfortable in.

For example – someone having experience with FinTech products can choose a Stock Trading Application as a Java project idea and use their understanding to architect such an application.

Q #4) What is Java good for?

Answer: Java is ubiquitous and is everywhere – right from mobiles, to mainframe systems. Popular mobile OS – Android is also built out of a lot of core Java libraries.

Hence Java can be used to build a variety of components including Frontend using technologies like Java Swing or JSP to middle or data access layer where JDBC drivers for all popular databases are easily available.

Q #5) Is Java still in demand?

Answer: According to Statista, Java is being used by around 1/3rd developers across the globe as of 2022. Hence the demand for Java is intact and the community is thriving as well.

Also, Java is ubiquitous in every sense. With features like Platform independence, automatic garbage collection, memory management, etc, it makes it highly feature-rich and a good choice for projects of all sizes.

List of the Top Java Project Ideas to Consider

Let’s discuss the basic details of the Java project listed out and how we can build these and gain more understanding of the complex systems as well as how the same can be implemented:

1. Currency Converter
2. Employee Attendance Management System
3. Web Medical Management System
4. Tic Tac Toe Game
5. Library Management System
6. Online Banking Application
7. E-commerce Shopping Application
8. Supermarket Billing Application
9. Simple Search Engine
10. Weather Reporting System
11. Social Networking System
12. Online Chat Application
13. Vehicle Recognition System
14. Stock Trading Application
15. Airline Reservation System

Detailed reviews:

#1) Currency Converter

Currency Converter is a very basic but useful project idea to try out using Java-based technologies. The core idea is to build an application that can convert between different currencies.

Think of it as something to be used by a Forex Desk which would compute the equivalent value of a currency when someone comes to the desk to exchange one for another.

It’s also important to understand that since the price keeps changing continuously, you would need to fetch a price from the exchange or any other source of truth and then convert.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• User Interface showing Input forms and input currency.
• User Interface to select the output currency and display the converted currency when the user presses SUBMIT or enters Input.
• The Application backend connects to an exchange or a service that provides real-time prices. For example, if the user input is USD and they want to convert the price equivalent of 100 USD to EUR, then the backend will connect to the service and fetch the exchange price of USD to EUR and then multiply it by 100 and return the output back to the user interface.
• The system should be capable of validating user inputs, like the user should enter a positive numeric number etc.
• The system is capable of handling errors like, source service not being available.

Technology Required:

• Front end/UI -> Java Servlets
• Connecting to Data source -> Applet, AJAX
• Build framework -> Maven/Gradle

Use Cases:

• Foreign Exchange desks.
• Bank transactions in Foreign currency – ex card issued by a US bank to perform the transaction in for example say EUR.

#2) Employee Attendance Management System

Employee Attendance Management System is one of the most preferred Java projects for beginners.

An attendance management system is a web-based application that employees of an organization can use to record their presence or absence. Additionally, it can couple with features like requesting holidays, editing holiday requests, etc.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Mark presence or absence.
• Usually accessible within the company network.
• Can be coupled with features like requesting leaves etc.
• Should support admin and employee login.

Technology Required:

• Front end: any modern web framework using Javascript or using Java Servlets
• Middle/Data layer – MySQL database
• Hosting using Tomcat Server JSP
• Backend – core Java

Use Cases:

• Record Employee Attendance
• Generate reports
• Admin can add/delete employees who can access the system
• Request leaves

#3) Web Medical Management System

Web-based Medical Management Systems can be multi-featured/functional applications. It can be used to book appointments with doctors, used as a customer profile where patient records are securely stored and the doctor can take a look at the historical data for a patient enabling a more informed diagnosis.

It can also be used for e-consultation with doctors sitting in any part of the globe. This is a more complex app involving multiple technologies like video streaming, 2-way communication using web sockets, etc.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• Admin and user login.
• Video streaming for e-consultation.
• Scheduling algorithm for appointments.
• File upload and secure storage

Technology Required:

• For secure storage, integrate with cloud solutions like AWS – S3 – Use Core Java SDKs for AWS.
• For Front End – Web Servlet or any Javascript-based framework.
• Web sockets, Spring boot-based applications using Java – Video streaming will use multipart form data.

Use Cases:

• The integrated application used by Hospitals.
• Document storage for patients for storing prescriptions, lab reports, etc.
• Scheduling and online consultations.

#4) Tic Tac Toe Game

Tic-Tac-Toe is one of the very simple and basic Java project ideas for beginners.

The application keeps track of user moves and keeps checking if any of the users have won the game. You can define the winning scenarios and keep checking if any of those are yet reached. If all tiles are filled and no player has won then the game is tied.

For add-ons, we can add features like user log in, score tracking, and leaderboard tracking to make the application more engaging.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Player profile login.
• Score tracking and leaderboard tracking for more user engagement.

Technology Required:

• Front end – Java Swing
• Middle layer = since we have user profiles. We can use any open-source database like MySQL or Postgres and build a Data Access Layer using Java Database Connection (JDBC)
• Backend – Core Java, arrays, lists

Use Cases:

• Entertainment
• Online games

#5) Library Management System

In Schools and Colleges with big libraries and huge bookshelves, it is usually difficult to keep track of book locations as well as tracking which students have borrowed what titles, etc.

In order to ease out this process, a simple database of the books, their locations as well as student profiles would help to keep a track of what titles are borrowed, we can have a Library Management System taken up as an easy Java project idea for beginners.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Student and Admin/Librarian Profile
• Book Database
• Borrowed book, Late fee tracker
• Book return reminders, etc.

Technology Required:

• Frontend – Javascript-based frameworks like Angular, React, or Java Swing GUI
• Data layer – Open-sourced MySQL or Postgres Database with JDBC
• Backend – Spring Boot Framework for the backend API

Use Cases:

• Manage titles for Schools, Colleges, and Hospitals
• Track borrowed titles

#6) Online Banking Application

Banks are one of the major customers as well as beneficiaries of all IT-based applications globally. Digitization in the finance space is one of the earliest adopters of Information Technology and is the top revenue generator as well.

As a core Java project, the Online Banking Application project idea can be taken to understand the different components of such an application as well as different features that could be integrated within this application.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• Customer and Admin profiles.
• Real-time balance of customer account
• Transfer assets between Inter and Intra banks
• Ability to link other products like credit cards, etc.

Technology Required:

• Front end: Java Swing, ASP.NET, etc
• Middle layer: Database and Bank applications generally prefer Enterprise databases like Oracle
• Backend: Core Java technology with frameworks like Spring Boot.

Use Cases:

• Real-time applications are used by most Retail and Corporate banking solutions.
• Tracking Customer balances and ability to transfer funds.
• Engage in other banking products like Insurance and Credit cards.
• Reward points and Loyalty solutions.

#7) E-commerce Shopping Application

With the booming craze in online shopping, eCommerce applications have been at the center stage and have been one of the most important applications of the Software industry.

E-commerce applications can range from full-fledged applications like Amazon, with features like loyalty points, customer profiles, payment integrations, etc to local grocery shopping applications.

This type of application can be taken as a Java project idea for experienced professionals who have experience with Core Java as well as other related technologies like Message queues etc.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• User and Admin profiles
• Seller profiles for listing product
• Multiple services like – authorization, review, payment services, loyalty points, etc.
• Shopping carts, reviews, etc.

Technology Required:

• Front end: Core Javascript-based applications, Modern frameworks like Angular, React, etc.
• Backend: Multiple microservices that can be built using Spring Boot Framework in Java.
• Middle Layer: Depending on the feature set, we might need persistent storage like MySQL or Postgres and an eventing layer like Kafka or any other queue systems.

Use Cases:

• Online shopping sites
• Loyalty Points accumulation and redemption.
• Reviewing product listings
• Order Delivery and Tracking

#8) Supermarket Billing Application

Supermarket Billing Application is one of the most used Java project ideas for building basic functionality around helping POS terminals to have their billing and payment systems automated, making the shopping experience more rewarding and less error-prone.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Admin and Cashier login
• Customer Info Module
• Product/SKU database
• Bar code reading interface
• Payment Service Integration – Credit/Debit cards, Cash
• Total Sales/Inventory management can be an add-on functionality

Technology Required:

• Front End: JSP, HTML and Ajax
• Middle / Data Layer: MySQL Database, JDBC
• Backend: Core Java, Spring Boot, Gradle, and Maven for build management

Use Cases:

• Billing at POS terminals
• Payment through various modes
• Inventory Management

#9) Simple Search Engine

One of the most intriguing features of the modern, as well as the old web, is search systems. Hence developers are mostly curious to understand the functioning of a search engine and develop it as a Java project idea.

Level

• Intermediate

Features:

• Frontend with the ability for a user to enter and submit search terms
• Database for storing data
• Retrieval service for querying results

Technology Required

• Frontend: JSP, Web Servlet
• Middle / Data layer: MySQL – Use JDBC to interface with database info
• Backend: Retrieval engine could be a REST service and built using core Java frameworks like Spring boot.

Use Cases:

• Build custom search functionality within your app.
• Forex. Supermarket Inventory applications can build a search logic to search for a given product name or category.

#10) Weather Reporting System

The Weather Reporting System could be a Java project idea for beginners which would basically fetch weather data from an external source of truth and massage the data in a format that could be consumed by the end users.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• The front end is a mobile app or web-based interface to input city or latitude/longitude
• Integrate with a third-party data provider
• Display relevant info to the user

Technology Required:

• Frontend – If Mobile based – we can use Android which could be developed using android libs written in core Java.
• Middle layer – Any open source DB like MySQL DB and use JDBC or Spring Hibernate to interface with Java.
• Backend – Integrate with backend services – Consume REST or SOAP data from a third party and built a REST-based API using Spring Boot framework.

Use Cases:

• Mobile app to find weather data for a particular city
• Search for Weather with given latitude/longitude information
• Get Historical Weather Data
• Settings Notifications etc.

#11) Social Networking System

With the gaining popularity of Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc, it’s an intriguing Java project idea to build a basic version of such an App and also understand the architecture and different layers of such a system.

It could be as simple as just creating a group of friends, to complex systems like building relationships, using custom graph algorithms to find friends of friends, creating events, creating Social Media profiles for businesses, etc.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• Login Page and Customer Profiles
• Account Pages and Notifications
• Friend List
• Accept and Send Requests

Technology Required:

• Frontend: HTML, CSS, Java Servlet
• Database: Usually Social Networking Databases require a fluidic schema like – Cassandra or Mongo DB – With JDBC to interface with the backend
• Backend: Can make use of Graph QL built using Core Java libraries.

Use Cases:

• Connecting people with common interests
• Create Branding for business
• Share Posts and Media between groups of related people

#12) Online Chat Application

With the advancement of Web2 with more and more users flocking to the web for businesses and social applications, a chat feature is a necessity.

Usually requiring 2-way communication between client and server, an Online chat application can be taken as a project idea for experienced developers or professionals.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• Initiate person-to-person chat
• Group chat
• Attaching media to the chat group
• Searching for a message in chat

Technology Required:

• Frontend: Modern Javascript-based frameworks like React or Angular, for Mobile, can be built using Android libraries.
• Middle Layer: Very fast access data layer like Dynamo DB which can load chat history as well as current messages in near real-time. For sharing heavier media files, other persistent storage options like Amazon S3 can be used.
• Client Server communication: Usually for chat-based application mechanisms like web sockets are preferred which keep the connection alive and make the application more responsive instead of being a pull or push-based model.
• Backend: Websocket RPC implementation, Spring boot-based REST API for other info like customer profile, group information, etc.

Use Cases:

• Social chat application
• Business Chat groups

#13) Vehicle Recognition System

Vehicle Recognition System can be taken up as a college project as a Java project idea for beginners. It can include basic functionality like recognizing Vehicle info by uploading vehicle nameplate images or entering the registration number.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Image-to-text recognition
• Lookup with Registration number
• Integrate with a third-party information source

Technology Required:

• Frontend: JSP or basic HTML/CSS
• Middle Layer: MySQL DB
• Backend: Image to Text using any available computer vision libraries like Open CV and Spring Boot framework to expose API endpoints and integrate with third-party information sources.

Use Cases:

• Transport department to fetch vehicle information with their Registration number.
• Insurance organizations to get all the details for the vehicle for which insurance is being purchased.

#14) Stock Trading Application

Stock Trading Application is one of the most common applications in the Software industry and has really transformed the way the entire trading lifecycle, right from placing a trade to settling the asset to the customer account.

This requires a lot of third-party integrations in order for an application to work and has to adhere to a lot of standards that are enforced by the regulators in different countries.

Hence, in order to get a deeper understanding of the system and take a stab at building different components of such an application it could be taken as one of the Java project ideas but for experienced developers.

Level

• Experienced

Features:

• Depositing and Withdrawing funds.
• Placing Order
• Settling Positions for Customer account
• Customer Login and Profile
• Generating Trade reports, P&L reports, etc
• Integration with charting libraries like Trading view
• Integration with exchange to fetch pricing information
• Streaming Pricing information

Technology Required:

• Front End: Core Javascript Frameworks like React to build highly responsive apps
• Middle Layer: MySQL DB for storing stock symbols and customer profile data
• Integration layer: Integrate with exchange data and charting libraries – Consume their API endpoints and expose them for the front end to consume.
• Backend: Microservices-based architecture. Leverage Spring Boot to develop REST APIs, JSR356, or Java API for web sockets to provide streaming pricing data.

Use Cases:

• Online trading
• Generating Reports
• Technical Analysis for Asset price movements.

#15) Airline Reservation System

At the college level for a final year project or for a company project, beginners can choose Airline Reservation System as one of the Java project ideas. The core functionality of such a system would be to manage the inventory and let the users book the available tickets.

Pricing info can be obtained from a third-party pricing engine.

Level

• Beginner

Features:

• Manage ticket inventory
• Integrate with pricing services
• Integration with payment services

Technology Required:

• Front End: Java Swing or Javascript frameworks like React
• Backend: core Java libraries, Spring Boot to create REST APIs and connect with third-party services to fetch SOAP or REST-based data

Use Cases:

• Used by travel aggregators to fetch inventory data
• Can be used by different airlines to build their own custom reservation systems.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned about various types of Java projects or Java project ideas that could be taken up to expand understanding about a particular application as well as using Java skills and other associated languages to build the entire applications.

We discussed some of the beginner project ideas like building Library management or Airline Reservation system to more complex ones like Stock Trading applications, Online Chat applications, etc which are more suited for experienced professionals.

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