In the osx/ios world, what is a library and what is a framework?

Question

I am learning development on osx and ios. So far, coding is ok. The most difficult is to handle all the files, all the configuration issues (of xcode), and so on. I thought hearing from a guru about libraries/frameworks would help me a lot!

I would like to know more about libraries and frameworks.

What is a library, what is a framework (and what's the difference between them)?
Where can I find a list of all the frameworks (of all the libraries?)? Or: what are the most important frameworks?
What can I do without any framework?

see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/148747/what-is-the-difference-between-a-framework-and-a-library — Emmanuel, Feb 05 '14 at 15:13
Yes i know. But i thought There could be a more specific/precise answer for Apple technologies. — Colas, Feb 05 '14 at 17:28

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

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Your first question is very well explained here

Finding the right frameworks is half the fun coding with iOS. There are loads of lists out there and depending on what you are doing there are some frameworks that are very used. One great tool to look at is cocoapods. It can not only help you find frameworks but it also manages the frameworks in your project. Adding cocoapods in my opinion should be the fist thing you do in a project. All that said, my three favorite frameworks are:

AFNetworking: To handle network requests.
RestKit: To transform JSON into objects. (it's actually built on top of AFNetworking)
SVProgressHUD: A lightweight progress HUD

Finally you can do everything without ever using an external framework but why would you recode something that is already coded and battle tested.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

Community

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answered Feb 05 '14 at 15:25

Mika

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I thought AFNNetworking was a library... – Colas Feb 05 '14 at 16:52
As you can see in the response in the first link: "Mac OS X frameworks are just libraries" – Mika Feb 05 '14 at 17:01
Which doesnt mean that all libraries are frameworks... – Colas Feb 05 '14 at 17:27
True I should have been more exact. – Mika Feb 05 '14 at 17:28

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 05 '14 at 17:55

In addition to my comment, some informations about frameworks on OS X/iOS.

A framework on OS X/iOS is a bundle used to distribute shared resources, including library code, resource files, header files… For more details see

A list of system frameworks available on OS X here

In the osx/ios world, what is a library and what is a framework?

2 Answers2