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What is a framework?

By Rahul Awati

In general, a framework is a real or conceptual structure intended to serve as a support or guide for the building of something that expands the structure into something useful. In computer systems, a framework is often a layered structure indicating what kind of programs can or should be built and how they would interrelate. Some computer system frameworks also include actual programs, specify programming interfaces, or offer programming tools for using the frameworks.

What is the purpose of a framework in computing?

In computing and programming, a framework provides a structure on which new software programs and applications can be built. A framework may be for a set of functions in a system and how they interrelate; the layers of an operating system or an application subsystem; or how communication should be standardized at some level of a network.

The most reliable, popular frameworks include various tools for code development, testing and debugging. Many frameworks also provide templates that can be reused and modified per application requirements. These prebuilt, modifiable elements let programmers build new programs without having to start over from scratch. With the framework as a base, they can add higher-level functionality to build a high-quality software product faster, with fewer errors.

Selecting the right framework for the chosen programming language and software project is vital. Different programming languages provide different types of frameworks. Some frameworks provide specific features or functionalities for specific tasks and are unsuitable for other tasks.

Advantages of a software framework

Speed is among the biggest benefits of using a framework in software development. By providing prebuilt code, templates, widgets, APIs, web resources and other reusable elements, a framework eliminates the need to build code and applications from the ground up. Developers only need to modify the elements by writing additional code. This reduces the development effort, saves time and accelerates the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Frameworks also help to improve code and application quality. Experts have already tested thoroughly the most well-known frameworks; they are proven to work well in numerous real-world scenarios. This enables others to confidently use those frameworks, knowing that doing so will help them develop cleaner, more secure, easily adaptable, highly comprehensible code. It also helps them avoid code duplication, make fewer errors and build quality applications.

The best frameworks simplify code testing and debugging. Built-in tools enable development teams to easily create test cases, review code, remove redundancies and quickly apply fixes.

Some frameworks offer strong security features, allowing developers to build code that's secure from the outset. They can also shift left in the SDLC, i.e., incorporate testing into development processes, which better accommodates secure-by-design principles, and lowers the costs of development, testing and bug fixing.

Software development frameworks are easy to extend for any new program being built in that framework's language. Developers can modify the framework's features and functionalities to build projects such as new websites, web applications, mobile applications and data science applications. Such extensibility is powerful for high-velocity, dynamic software development environments.

Software frameworks in different programming languages

Frameworks are available for all major and popular programming languages and for developing different types of applications.

1. Angular JS

Language: JavaScript

Purpose: Websites and web applications (including progressive web applications or PWAs)

Angular JS is a popular JavaScript framework for developing web applications and websites. First released in 2012 by a Google employee and now officially supported by Google, Angular JS uses TypeScript code and responds to user inputs quickly without requiring the user to write extra lines of code.

The Angular JS framework includes many useful features that help developers build quality applications:

• Data binding. Data binding view gets updated automatically when the model changes, and vice versa. Such two-way binding eliminates the need for document object model (DOM) manipulation and reduces development time.
• Controllers. Behaviors can be expressed in clean, readable form in Angular JS without having to update the DOM or register callbacks.
• JavaScript objects. AngularJS models are plain JavaScript objects, simplifying code testing, maintenance and reuse.
• Reusable components. Complex DOM structure, CSS and behaviors can be hidden so developers can focus on the application's purpose.
• Dependency injections. Developers can declaratively describe the application's wiring and easily replace components.

2. Django

Language: Python

Purpose: Web applications

Django is a high-level, free, open source Python web framework that speeds web application development. Among its many useful elements are APIs, a dynamic admin interface, templates and an object-relational mapper to handle common development tasks easily. Django also includes numerous security guardrails to help developers avoid common security mistakes and build more secure applications.

Other useful Django features include the following:

• Reliable user authentication system. It provides a secure way to manage user accounts and passwords, and safeguard applications against brute-force attacks.
• Data-model syntax. It allows developers to represent their models in many ways and avoid many common database-schema problems.
• Free, rich, no-code Python API. It is created on the fly and eases data access.
• Clean URL scheme. Django doesn't put any cruft in URLs (.php or .asp) so it's easy to design clean URLs for any app.
• Prebuilt templates. A comprehensive template system that's well-integrated with Django's model layer accelerates development and simplifies even complex projects like site redesigns. Developers can also write custom template filters and tags that run custom Python code if needed.

3. Express for Node.js

Language: JavaScript

Purpose: Web applications, mobile applications, APIs

Express is a free, open source, back-end framework for Node.js. Based on JavaScript, the framework can be downloaded for free from the OpenJS Foundation's website. Express provides a solid tool set for building web applications, mobile applications and middleware. It provides HTTP utility methods to create APIs quickly.

Web and mobile app developers favor Express because of features like these:

• Easy request handling. With Express, it's easy to specify what function is called for a particular HTTP verb and URL pattern, reducing the need to write route handlers from scratch.
• Neutrality. Developers are free to structure code; Express doesn't force them to follow a specific structure.
• Lightweight and flexible. The framework's core features can be augmented easily with Express middleware modules. The middleware can be inserted into the request handling chain in any order.

4. Flutter

Language: Dart, a thin layer of C/C++ code

Purpose: Mobile applications, web applications

Flutter is an open source, Dart-based framework for developing mobile and web applications. The framework makes it easy to build applications for any platform and screen. Moreover, developers can build mobile, web, desktop and embedded experiences from a single codebase. All Flutter applications are natively compiled to ARM/Intel machine code and JavaScript to ensure optimal performance on any device.

Google developed and maintains the Flutter framework, which is popular for many companies. Some of its key features include the following:

• Prebuilt packages. Flutter provides plugins, libraries, APIs and software development kit collections to build high-quality applications faster.
• AI enabled. Developers can extend the functionality of their Dart or Flutter apps with AI-based features like text generation and chatbots.
• Built-in support for in-app purchases. App builders can diversify their revenue streams with in-app purchases and subscription services.
• Integration with Google services. Flutter seamlessly integrates with Google's app development ecosystem, including Google Ads, Google Wallet and Google Maps. This simplifies development and helps organizations reach bigger audiences.

5. Other popular development frameworks

Development teams can consider many more frameworks to accelerate the SDLC, simplify code testing and build high-quality applications. Some of the most in-demand frameworks include the following:

• Ruby on Rails, an open source, full-stack framework written in Ruby to develop web apps (front-end and back-end).
• React Native, a JavaScript framework for building user interfaces (UIs) and native apps for Android and iOS devices.
• Ionic, an open source, cross-platform framework that provides a UI toolkit for building cross-platform mobile apps from a single codebase.
• Apache Hadoop, an open source software library that provides simple programming models to handle the distributed processing of large data sets across computing clusters.
• .NET, a managed execution environment with tools and libraries for building and running websites, services and desktop apps on Windows.
• Spring, a popular Java framework that provides a serverless architecture to build scalable web apps with production-grade features.
• PyTorch, an open source, data science framework and machine learning library from Meta AI Research Lab suited to building deep learning models and applications.
• Apache Spark, an open source framework that supports multiple programming languages to execute data science and machine learning applications in a simple, fast, scalable manner.

Framework vs. library

A framework is generally more comprehensive than a protocol and more prescriptive than a structure. Frameworks also differ from libraries.

Most programming languages provide libraries, which consist of numerous components, each with a specific functionality and serving a particular purpose. Libraries provide pre-written code with functions, routines, scripts and object data, reducing the amount of code programmers must create from scratch.

Frameworks are much larger and broader than libraries. Most frameworks provide a rich set of tools, libraries and functionalities developers can use as the base to develop applications faster and with fewer errors. Frameworks provide more comprehensive, extendable functionalities based on proven best practices to develop cleaner code with fewer duplications while simplifying code testing and application debugging.

What is a framework example?

Besides software development, frameworks are also used in other areas. Examples of such frameworks that are currently used or offered by standards bodies or companies include the following:

• Resource Description Framework, a set of rules from the World Wide Web Consortium to describe internet resources, such as websites, and to represent interconnected data on the web in a standardized way.
• Internet Communication Framework, a framework that provides the infrastructure needed for SAP processes to handle HTTP requests in work processes.
• Sender Policy Framework, a defined authentication and authorization method to identify genuine mail servers, differentiate them from scammers and phishers, and make email more secure.
• Zachman Framework, a logical, two-dimensional, 6x6 ontology for enterprise architecture that provides a way to view and represent an enterprise.
• Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT), the framework developed by ISACA, helps organizations optimize enterprise IT governance.
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework, a set of standards, guidelines and best practices that helps enterprises strengthen cybersecurity programs to prevent, detect and respond to cyberattacks.
• Mitre ATT&CK, a free knowledge base that contains comprehensive, up-to-date information about cyberactors' tactics and techniques; it enables organizations to build threat models and methodologies to strengthen their cybersecurity infrastructure.

Choosing between Django vs. Node.js comes down to understanding their data capabilities and the programming languages that make up each one's history.