Difference between BeanFactory and ApplicationContext

BeanFactory is also called basic IOC and ApplicationContext is called Advanced IOC. Although BeanFactory and ApplicationContext both are used to get the beans from IOC container by using method getBean(String beanName). But they have some significant differences in their implementation which are described as below :

1. BeanFactory uses lazy initialization approach whereas ApplicationContext uses eager initialization approach.

i.e BeanFactory creates a singleton bean only when it is requested from it but ApplicationContext creates all singleton beans at the time of its own initialization.

2. ApplicationContext creates and manages resources objects on its own whereas BeanFactory used to be explicitly provided a resource object using the syntax :

	ClassPathResource resource = new ClassPathResource("beans.xml");
	XmlBeanFactory factory = new XmlBeanFactory(resource);	// Here resource object is provided explicitly

3. ApplicationContext supports internationalization but BeanFactory do not.

4. Annotation based dependency Injection is not supported by BeanFactory whereas ApplicationContext supports using annotation @PreDestroy, @Autowired.

Thanks