What is a framework? Why using frameworks to build Websites and Web Applications?

What is a framework?

A framework is mainly designed to help developers to build unique websites and web applications. It provides core functionality to almost all web applications such as user session management, template systems and data persistence. By using a proper framework, a developer can able to save a significant amount of time when building a website.

When should a developer use a framework?

The necessity of using a framework can be measured based two categories. 1) The level of customization you need, and 2) The developers whom you employ.

Suppose, in order to drive innovation in your company, you want to improve social interaction among your employees. However, you don’t want to use the public social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, etc. So, you want to create a custom social network among your employees. Therefore, you will be considered a custom development done for this purpose. As this will be requiring more customization, you will be more likely using a framework.

However, if you are not going to do the website or web application development by yourself, you will be employing a developer to do the work for you. Even thought a huge number of developers use open-source frameworks, some developers prefer to use their own custom-built internal frameworks, and some never uses framework at all.

Like many of the communities that share their opinions, the developer community does so many aspects, such as using the actual language and design pattern, writing the code, and of course, various aspects are also there about using frameworks.

Why using frameworks to build Websites and Web Applications?

• Most popular frameworks in many languages are open-source or available to use for free. Some frameworks come with licensing, but that is not restrictive and, however, allows developers to create commercial products using such frameworks.
• A framework has either good documentation or good support or both at the same time. At times, good support will be a subjective issue. Generally, paid support will be faster and more concise; however, this also depends on the activity level within the framework.
• Efficiency is the main reason why framework exists. If you use a framework to build a website, then you will not be required to write a lot of repetitive code, which you will find being used in various web applications.  Example: Commenting Systems and User-authentication. On average, you can expect to build a website in much less time than would be built writing code without using a framework.
• Generally, a framework is built and tested by a large number of developers. So, it is extremely likely that various different security risks are addressed and tested when building a framework. Moreover, new security risks can also be addressed and fixed easily and swiftly.
• Suppose, if you are developing any web application and you want to store some data, then you will be using a database. Similar to a database, there are various other tools available to link to web development. While Frameworks make it much easier to link to these tools and also to communicate with them.