[[describe what the word ''framework'' means]]

To some, framework is another term for library, or class, or
set of functional code designed for one to build upon.

In general, the term 'framework' is generally thought of as an
''infrastructure'' layer.  Using it makes doing some specific type of
development easier.

In tcl, an extension designed to streamline the building of a [megawidget]
might be called a framework.

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[[ [DKF]: I note here that "Framework" means something specific in relation to MacOS X, but don't understand exactly what it is. Can someone expand on this? ]]
[LV]
Well, read
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/SystemOverview/Bundles/chapter_5_section_1.html

and then

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/SystemOverview/Frameworks/chapter_7_section_1.html is a part of the Mac OS X documentation

and perhaps that will help a bit.

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[RS] finds that Tcl/Tk themselves make a great framework. Earlier, I crafted my own convenience routines in Tcl, leading to package dependencies and less readable code... So I changed to using [pure-Tcl] as far as possible (and that's very far!)

If one has no need to repeat the identical functions, then writing everything from scratch is the result one will find.

Frameworks are based on the assumption that a) one does not wish to spend years writing the same code that someone else has already written, b) that the functionality one wants is either complex enough, or repetitive enough, that doing it once - right - and debugging it once, results in benefits to other.

See for instance the comp.lang.tcl thread titled "DIY megawidgets" (See: [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=bjpf3o%24ge9%241%248300dec7%40news.demon.co.uk&rnum=4&prev=/groups%3Fq%3DDIY%2Bmegawidgets%2Bgroup:comp.lang.tcl%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3Dbjpf3o%2524ge9%25241%25248300dec7%2540news.demon.co.uk%26rnum%3D4%26filter%3D0])  in it, [Jonathan Bromley] talks about his initial discovery of how hard it is to write a robust megawidget from scratch, and [Bryan Oakley] concurs... Having a debugged set of procs which handle these issues allows one to spend their time writing widgets rather than recreating the infrastructure.

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[Category Glossary]