What is the difference between a framework and a l

Question

What is the difference between a framework and a library?

I always thought of a library as a set of objects and functions that is focused around solving a particular problem or around a specific area of application development (i.e. database access); a framework on the other hand is a collection of libraries centered around a particular methodology (i.e. MVC) and covers all areas of application development.

Answer 1

Your interpretation sounds pretty good to me... A library could be anything that's compiled and self-contained for re-use in other code, there's literally no restriction on its content.

A framework on the other hand is expected to have a range of facilities for use in some specific arena of application development, just like your example, MVC.

Answer 2

I think that the main difference is that frameworks follow the "Hollywood principle", i.e. "don't call us, we'll call you."

According to Martin Fowler:

A library is essentially a set of functions that you can call, these days usually organized into classes. Each call does some work and returns control to the client.

A framework embodies some abstract design, with more behavior built in. In order to use it you need to insert your behavior into various places in the framework either by subclassing or by plugging in your own classes. The framework's code then calls your code at these points.

Answer 3

A library performs specific, well-defined operations.

A framework is a skeleton where the application defines the "meat" of the operation by filling out the skeleton. The skeleton still has code to link up the parts but the most important work is done by the application.

Examples of libraries: Network protocols, compression, image manipulation, string utilities, regular expression evaluation, math. Operations are self-contained.

Examples of frameworks: Web application system, Plug-in manager, GUI system. The framework defines the concept but the application defines the fundamental functionality that end-users care about.

Answer 4

As I've always described it:

A Library is a tool.

A Framework is a way of life.

A library you can use whatever tiny part helps you. A Framework you must commit your entire project to.

Answer 5

From Web developer perspective:

1. Library can be easily replaceable by another library. But framework cannot.

   If you don't like jquery date picker library, you can replace with other date picker such as bootstrap date picker or pickadate.

   If you don't like AngularJS on which you built your product, you cannot just replace with any other frameworks. You have to rewrite your entire code base.

2. Mostly library takes very less learning curve compared to Frameworks. Eg: underscore.js is a library, Ember.js is a framework.

Answer 6

I don´t remember the source of this answer (I guess I found it in a .ppt in the internet), but the answer is quite simple.

A Library and a Framework are a set of classes, modules and/or code (depending of the programing language) that can be used in your applications and helps you to solve an especific "problem".

That problem can be log or debuging info in an application, draw charts, create an specific file format (html, pdf, xls), connect to a data base, create a part of an application or a complete application or a code applied to a Design Pattern.

You can have a Framework or a Library to solve all these problems and many more, normaly the frameworks helps you to solve more complex or bigger problems, but that a consecuence of their main difference, not a main definition for both.

The main difference betwen a Library and a Framework is the dependency betwen their own code, in oder words to use a Framework you need to use almost all the classes, modules or code in the FW, but to use a Library you can use one or few classes, modules or code in the lib in your own application

This means that if a Framework has, for example has 50 classes in order to use the framework in an app you need to use, let said, 10-15 or more classes in your code, because that is how is designed a Framework, some classes (objects of that classes) are inputs/parameters for methods in other classes in the framework. See the .NET framework, Spring, or any MVC framework.

But for example a log library, you can just use a Log class in your code, and helps you to solve the "logging problem", that doesn´t mean that the log library doesn't have more classes in his code, like classes to handle files, handle screen outputs, or even data bases, but you never touch/use that classes in your code, and that is the reason of why is a library and not a framework.

And also there are more categories than Frameworks and Libraries, but that is off topic.