How do you understand the term 'Inversion of Control'?

Inversion of Control (IoC) is a design principle where the control of creating and binding objects is delegated to an external container or framework, rather than being implemented directly within application components.

Simply put, instead of an object creating or finding its dependencies itself, it receives them from outside. This increases modularity, makes testing easier, and allows flexible configuration of the application's behavior.

In Java and Spring, IoC is implemented through a container that manages the lifecycle and dependencies of objects, injecting them automatically (via DI). As a result, components become less coupled and easier to maintain.