org.springFramework.Beans and org.springframework.Context forms the base of the spring IOC container.

The beans define their dependencies with the each other they work with hence it is known as IOC
(Inversion of Control). A good se example of IOC is the servlet container where the container instantiates a
servlet.

BeanFactory and ApplicationContext forms the base of the spring IOC container. The basic difference
between BeanFactory and ApplicationContext is:

Bean Factory Application Context

Does not support internationalization I18 support
Follows lazy initialization of beans which means that
it creates the bean when a bean is requested.
Does not provide support for sending events to
registered bean.
Annotation based dependency is not supported by
bean factory like @AUTOWIRED, @PREDESTROY
Supports Internationalization
Eager instantiation of bean. All the singleton bean is
created at the time the container is
started/initialized.
Does provide support for sending events to the
beans registered in the xml file
Annotation based dependency is supported by
Application context.