Frameworks VS Libraries, What Is The Difference?

In the world of programming, we often make use of frameworks and libraries but what is the difference between the both?

Well if you read this blog post till the end, you’re going to discover exactly that!

Before we can compare the two with each other, we first need to understand the meaning of each of them.

What is a framework?

A framework often provides ready-made components and interfaces along with their implementations. Frameworks often can work independently and have a particular start-up entry method that gets executed when the framework is being initialized.

Here are a few examples of popular frameworks in the programming space:

• Angular
• .NET Framework
• PHP Laravel
• Python Django

But what is a library then?

Just like a framework, a library usually contains ready-made classes and interfaces but they aren’t being initialized by default. It requires the developer to add the library to his/her project and call the provided classes individually.

Here are a few examples of popular libraries in the programming space:

• React.JS
• JQuery
• Newtonsoft.JSON
• Bootstrap CSS

What is the key difference?

The key difference between the two is that with frameworks, the developer usually installs the framework first, and then builds his/her application on top of that.

But with libraries, the developer already has an existing application where he/she will install the libraries using a package manager.

Frameworks are in full control of your application while libraries are not, they just add extra functionality that the developer can access.

So that’s it for today’s blog post, I hope you found it useful and that you learned from it.

If you did learn from it, let me know your opinion in the comments and perhaps even share your insights about the topic.

Remember, Your dream career is just one step away!

Your friend: Michiel Arkema

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