Whether it is referred to as a service locator (or just locator), or as an IoC container (or just container) makes no difference as you have guessed, they are probably referring to the same abstraction (do correct me if I’m wrong).
Read moreAre service locators bad?
In short, the problem with Service Locator is that it hides a class’ dependencies, causing run-time errors instead of compile-time errors, as well as making the code more difficult to maintain because it becomes unclear when you would be introducing a breaking change.
Read moreWhat is Locator programming?
The tool that performs the conversion from relocatable program to executable binary image is called a locator.
Read moreWhat is the purpose of service locator?
The purpose of the Service Locator pattern is to return the service instances on demand . This is useful for decoupling service consumers from concrete classes.3 Eki 2020
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