What is a framework? I need help clearing up API’s and IDE’s as well?
by on Oct.17, 2010, under Ruby and Rails
I am a computer science major in college but I’m fairly new to everything. I just got a job at my school and I will be doing some web development. I understand that PHP is a scripting language, but we are going to be learning CakePHP and Ruby on Rails which are frameworks. What is a framework? Can somebody please explain it in layman’s terms. I think I understand the concept of an API, but what is the difference between an API and an IDE? I thought Visual Studio was an IDE, but someone called it an API today. also, are there any computer science resources that will explain the basics such as these (not how to program, but terms and things) in an easy to understand manner?
Also, what is a CMS or content management system?
What is a framework? I need help clearing up API’s and IDE’s as well?
