Difference between Framework and Library?

The key difference between a library and a framework is “Inversion of Control”. When you call a method from a library, you are in control. But with a framework, the control is inverted: the framework calls you.

To put in simple terms, You call library whereas framework calls you.

Library:

A library performs specific, well-defined operations.

Examples of libraries: Network protocols, compression, image manipulation, string utilities, regular expression evaluation, math. Operations are self-contained.

Framework:

A framework is a skeleton where the application defines the “meat” of the operation by filling out the skeleton. The skeleton still has code to link up the parts but the most important work is done by the application.

Examples of frameworks: Web application system, Plug-in manager, GUI system. The framework defines the concept but the application defines the fundamental functionality that end-users care about.

Both of them defined API, which is used for programmers to use. To put those together, we can think of a library as a certain function of an application, a framework as the skeleton of the application, and an API is a connector to put those together. A typical development process normally starts with a framework, and fill out functions defined in libraries through API.