Spring Universe

XML-based

Java-based

Spring Container (IoC)

create, wire together, configure and manage thd life cycle of the objects

org.springframework

.beans

.context

are the basis for Spring Framework's IoC container

BeanFactory
interface provides as advanced configuration mechanism capable of managing any type of object.

ApplicationContext
represents the Spring IoC

provides configuration framework and basic functionalty

adds more enterprise-specific functionality

(in short)

Bean

is an object that is instantiated, assembled, and otherwise managed by...

simply one of many objects in your application

get its instructions reading the...

...configuration metadata
is represented in...

XML

Java annotations(annotation-based since 2.5)

Java code(java-based since 3.0)

its constructor allow the container to load configuration metadata from a variety of external resources