What is a software framework

Question

Can someone please explain me what a software framework is  Why do we need a framework  What does a framework do to make programming easier

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A simple explanation is  A framework is a scaffold that you can you build applications around   A framework generally provides some base functionality which you can use and extend to make more complex applications from  there are frameworks for all sorts of things  Microsofts MVC framework is a good example of this  It provides everything you need to get off the ground building website using the MVC pattern  it handles web requests  routes and the like  All you have to do is implement  Controllers  and provide  Views  which are two constructs defined by the MVC framework  The MVC framework then handles calling your controllers and rendering your views   Perhaps not the best wording but I hope it helps

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Beyond definitions  which are sometimes understandable only if you already understand  an example helped me   I think I got a glimmer of understanding when loooking at sorting a list in  Net  an example of a framework providing a functionality that s tailored by user code providing specific functionality    Take List Sort IComparer    The sort algorithm  which resides in the  Net framework in the Sort method  needs to do a series of compares  does object A come before or after object B   But Sort itself has no clue how to do the compare  only the type being sorted knows that   You couldn t write a comparison sort algorithm that can be reused by many users and anticipate all the various types you d be called upon to sort   You ve got to leave that bit of work up to the user itself   So here  sort  aka the framework  calls back to a method in the user code  the type being sorted so it can do the compare    Or a delegate can be used  same point     Did I get this right

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at the lowest level  a framework is an environment  where you are given a set of tools to work with  this tools come in the form of libraries  configuration files  etc   this so-called  environment  provides you with the basic setup  error reportings  log files  language settings  etc    which can be modified extended and built upon   People actually do not need frameworks  it s just a matter of wanting to save time  and others just a matter of personal preferences   People will justify that with a framework  you don t have to code from scratch  But those are just people confusing libraries with frameworks   I m not being biased here  I am actually using a framework right now

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A framework provides functionalities solution to the particular problem area  Definition from wiki      A software framework  in computer   programming  is an abstraction in   which common code providing generic   functionality can be selectively   overridden or specialized by user code   providing specific functionality    Frameworks are a special case of   software libraries in that they are   reusable abstractions of code wrapped   in a well-defined Application   programming interface  API   yet they   contain some key distinguishing   features that separate them from   normal libraries

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A framework helps us about using the  already created   a metaphore can be like    think that earth material is the programming language    and for example  a camera  is the program  and you decided to create a notebook  You don t need to recreate the camera everytime  you just use the earth framework  for example to a technology store  take the camera and integrate it to your notebook

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The summary at Wikipedia  Software Framework   first google hit btw  explains it quite well      A software framework  in computer programming  is an abstraction in which common code providing generic functionality can be selectively overridden or specialized by user code providing specific functionality  Frameworks are a special case of software libraries in that they are reusable abstractions of code wrapped in a well-defined Application programming interface  API   yet they contain some key distinguishing features that separate them from normal libraries       Software frameworks have these distinguishing features that separate them from libraries or normal user applications          inversion of control - In a framework  unlike in libraries or normal user applications  the overall program s flow of control is not dictated by the caller  but by the framework  1    default behavior - A framework has a default behavior  This default behavior must actually be some useful behavior and not a series of no-ops    extensibility - A framework can be extended by the user usually by selective overriding or specialized by user code providing specific functionality    non-modifiable framework code - The framework code  in general  is not allowed to be modified  Users can extend the framework  but not modify its code       You may  need  it because it may provide you with a great shortcut when developing applications  since it contains lots of already written and tested functionality  The reason is quite similar to the reason we use software libraries

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I m not sure there s a clear-cut definition of  framework   Sometimes a large set of libraries is called a framework  but I think the typical use of the word is closer to the definition aioobe brought   This very nice article sums up the difference between just a set of libraries and a framework      A framework can be defined as a set of libraries that say    Don   t call us  we   ll call you       How does a framework help you  Because instead of writing something from scratch  you basically just extend a given  working application  You get a lot of productivity this way - sometimes the resulting application can be far more elaborate than you could have done on your own in the same time frame - but you usually trade in a lot of flexibility

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A lot of good answers already  but let me see if I can give you another viewpoint   Simplifying things by quite a bit  you can view a framework as an application that is complete except for the actual functionality   You plug in the functionality and PRESTO  you have an application   Consider  say  a GUI framework   The framework contains everything you need to make an application   Indeed you can often trivially make a minimal application with very few lines of source that does absolutely nothing -- but it does give you window management  sub-window management  menus  button bars  etc   That s the framework side of things   By adding your application functionality and  plugging it in  to the right places in the framework you turn this empty app that does nothing more than window management  etc  into a real  full-blown application   There are similar types of frameworks for web apps  for server-side apps  etc   In each case the framework provides the bulk of the tedious  repetitive code  hopefully  while you provide the actual problem domain functionality    This is the ideal   In reality  of course  the success of the framework is highly variable    I stress again that this is the simplified view of what a framework is   I m not using scary terms like  Inversion of Control  and the like although most frameworks have such scary concepts built-in   Since you re a beginner  I thought I d spare you the jargon and go with an easy simile

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I m very late to answer it  But  I would like to share one example  which I only thought of today  If I told you to cut a piece of paper with dimensions 5m by 5m  then surely you would do that  But suppose I ask you to cut 1000 pieces of paper of the same dimensions  In this case  you won t do the measuring 1000 times  obviously  you would make a frame of 5m by 5m  and then with the help of it you would be able to cut 1000 pieces of paper in less time  So  what you did was make a framework which would do a specific type of task  Instead of performing the same type of task again and again for the same type of applications  you create a framework having all those facilities together in one nice packet  hence providing the abstraction for your application and more importantly many applications

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Technically  you don t need a framework  If you re making a really really simple site  think of the web back in 1992   you can just do it all with hard-coded HTML and some CSS   And if you want to make a modern webapp  you don t actually need to use a framework for that  either   You can instead choose to write all of the logic you need yourself  every time   You can write your own data-persistence storage layer  or - if you re too busy - just write custom SQL for every single database access   You can write your own authentication and session handling layers   And your own template rending logic   And your own exception-handling logic   And your own security functions   And your own unit test framework to make sure it all works fine   And your own     goes on for quite a long time   Then again  if you do use a framework  you ll be able to benefit from the good  usually peer-reviewed and very well tested work of dozens if not hundreds of other developers  who may well be better than you  You ll get to build what you want rapidly  without having to spend time building or worrying too much about the infrastructure items listed above   You can get more done in less time  and know that the framework code you re using or extending is very likely to be done better than you doing it all yourself   And the cost of this  Investing some time learning the framework  But - as virtually every web dev out there will attest - it s definitely worth the time spent learning to get massive  really  massive  benefits from using whatever framework you choose

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In General  A frame Work is real or Conceptual structure of intended to serve as a support or Guide for the building some thing that expands the structure into something useful

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A framework has some functions that you may need  you maybe need some sort of arrays that have inbuilt sorting mechanisms  Or maybe you need a window where you want to place some controls  all that you can find in a framework  it s a kind of WORK that spans a FRAME around your own work   EDIT  OK I m about to dig what you guys were trying to tell me    you perhaps havent noticed the information between the lines  WORK that spans a FRAME around      before this is getting fallen deeper n deeper  I try to give a floor to it hoping you re gracfully  a good explanation to the question  Difference between a Library and a Framework  I found here http   ifacethoughts net 2007 06 04 difference-between-a-library-and-a-framework

[frameworks] What is a software framework?

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