What is framework in software: Definition and Types

Whenever you try to learn anything in software engineering, you often hear the word “Framework.” At first, it can be a little bit confusing as there is a lot to process. But it’s one of the few things in the software development world that streamlines the entire work.

But what is a framework in software? Is it a set of instructions? Is it a photo frame? Is it a different software tool? As the name suggests, a framework is the structure of the software program. Also, it can be referred to as a structured programming language.

When it comes to programming languages, the frameworks provide additional functionality and streamline the coding process. Want to know more about the frameworks in software? Let’s just start!

What Do You Mean by Framework?

The framework is a structure for building software programs. It’s the simplest definition that you need to know. The frameworks are typically associated with the programming languages.

The main aim of the frameworks is to reduce the need of writing the code from scratch for every function or every feature. The framework codebase contains various templates, extensions, reusable code or structures that the developers and engineers can use with ease.

There is no need to spend extra time coding from scratch, as the frameworks provide the flexibility of using the reusable code in a structured manner. The software engineers have been using a variety of coding frameworks to make robust softwares without spending too much time.

Are there any differences between Libraries and Frameworks?

It’s a common question asked by the developers regarding the frameworks. The majority of people think that Framework and Libraries are the same. But that’s not completely true. Coding libraries are a part of frameworks and not the other way around.

Libraries are the tools available within the framework. They contain the features and components for efficient software building. On the other hand, the framework is a complete structure and protocols used for efficient development.

Types of Software Frameworks

There are more than a few types of software frameworks that developers use. Right now, we will explore a few different types of frameworks.

#1 – Front-end Frameworks

Front-end development includes languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, and others. The most common front-end frameworks are built around these different languages.

ReactJS, AngularJS, and Vue.js are some of the commonly used frameworks. ReactJS is developed by Meta ( previously known as Facebook ). It’s a powerful framework for building progressive web apps using JavaScript. It’s commonly used in the Saas apps and even mobile apps. According to the survey conducted by StackOverflow, 39.5% of professional front-end developers used ReactJS for their projects.

AngularJS is developed by a team at Google and it’s similar to ReactJS in use cases. With the AngularJS framework, the developers can build the web apps, websites, mobile apps and even single-page apps.

Bootstrap and Scss are a few frameworks used in building websites and web apps. Bootstrap uses reusable HTML and JavaScript code, while SCSS is the preprocessor framework for CSS.

#2 – Back-end Frameworks

For the back-end development, there are only a few frameworks. The most popular is Django, which is a Python-based framework. It works beautifully with the front-end development part. Django focuses on the back-end part of the development and can be used for building web apps with deep back-end functionality.

Rails is based on the Ruby programming language and ocmmonly known as Ruby on Rails. It’s a powerful and open-source framework, which provides the support for databases, backend services and other features.

#3 – Mobile App Frameworks

According to the report from Statista, amongst the global internet users, 95.9% of them are using mobile devices to surf the internet. Hence, the development of mobile apps and responsive websites is necessary nowadays.

There are two most common frameworks available for mobile app development. The first one is Flutter, which is quite popular for building Android apps. It provides a wide range of functions and features along with the reusable code structure. Flutter is an open-source project developed by a team at Google and based on Dart language.

Another one is the React Native. It’s the same as the one we mentioned for the front-end development. It’s developed by Meta and works smoothly for mobile app development.

React Native works well for the iOS and Android platforms. Majority of the popular mobile apps like Facebook, Spotify, X ( formerly Twitter ) and others are developed with React Libraries.

#4 – Data Science Frameworks

Believe it or not, data science requires a ton of coding. Python is the primary language used for Data Science and Analytics projects.

PyTorch is an open-source machine learning framework, which is commonly used for the deep ML analysis of various datasets. It’s based in Python and powerful enough to analyze huge sets of data. PyTorch is commonly used in the majority of data-science projects and AI tools and services.

TensorFlow is another popular and powerful framework for data analytics. It’s an open-source framework and code library developed by Google for advancing the deep learning and machine learning features. This framework works perfectly for building the AI and ML apps and tools.

For big data analytics, Apache Spark is commonly used. It supports various coding languages like Python, Scala, R, and others. It’s an open-source framework project widely used by data scientists and engineers to build data analysis and big data modules for analyzing huge sets of data in an effective way.

#5 – Desktop Software Frameworks

Even in this world of web apps and Saas tools, people still prefer using the desktop apps on macOS, Windows or Linux systems. There are numerous frameworks available for desktop app developers.

ElectronJS is one of the most popular desktop app development frameworks used widely by the big companies like Slack, Asana, Discord, Figma and many others. It’s developed by GitHub and uses a mixture of HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build the apps. Electron is known for lightweight apps and simplified development experience.

.NET framework is another most popular framework for the Windows desktop apps. It’s developed by Microsoft and supports more than 60 programming languages like C#, Python, Java, C++, VB.net and many others.

Final Words

Every newbie software engineer or developer gets confused when someone asks them What is a framework in the software industry?.

Frameworks provide a complete solution for developing powerful apps and websites with streamlined processes. It’s possible to build out-of-the-world web apps and desktop software programs using vanilla programming languages.

But the frameworks make it easier to save a lot of time, add more functionality and have a clutter-free development experience.