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Java: Platform and Framework

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  • 08-07-2013 7:14pm
    #1
    SimonTemplar
    Registered Users Posts: 2,815 ✭✭✭


    I know enough Java to create small scale apps but I want to / need to get to grips with the "bigger picture", i.e. the methodology for developing larger scale applications.

    I'm reading up on J2EE and Spring. I understand J2EE is a platform and Spring is a framework but I haven't got my head around what the difference between a framework and a platform is. I know that from a "hierarchical" point of view, a platform is higher than a framework but that's about it.

    I'd appreciate it if someone could explain the difference between a platform and framework using J2EE and Spring as examples.

    Cheers.


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    #2
    ryanfm
    Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭ryanfm


    A framework is a special library which has some generic functionality which the user can override to create specific app behavior. i.e. A web framework contains a lot of the functionality an app will need already built in. Your job is to customise it for your particular app.

    A platform is what enables apps to run.

    Your app > framework > platform
    Your app > Spring > J2EE

    You can just write your app directly on a platform.

    Your app > J2EE

    But you'll be writing a lot of similar code to what a framework can do for you.

    That is, a framework does a lot of the work for you. The code that is the same/similar for many different apps.

    Example. ThePadrino web framework (Ruby) has caching, logging, localisation, etc features built in. If you use Padrino you can use these features with little work. If you build directly on ruby you'll need to build everything from scratch.


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