After a long stint on php I'm now using jackson inside of play framework to work with json from java. It's quite easy to use. https://www.playframework.com/doc

After a long stint on php I'm now using jackson inside of play framework to work with json from java. It's quite easy to use. https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.5.x/JavaJsonActions https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.5.x/JavaJsonAc... I don't miss php much. I'd like to have instant browser reloads back. Play's incremental compilation does give you an edit-reload cycle, but it can be sluggish. (Incidentally, the reason I use java now is because this web app is the front-end to a hadoop platform, and php's hadoop integration is less than ideal.)