IoC, or Inversion of Control, is a programming design pattern that allows for the separation of concerns in software development. It is a technique where the control of an application’s flow is inverted, meaning that instead of the application controlling the flow of execution, the control is delegated to an external component. This allows for more flexibility and modularity in the code, making it easier to maintain and extend. IoC is often used in conjunction with dependency injection, where the external components are injected into the application at runtime. This allows for loose coupling between different components, making the code more testable and scalable. In essence, IoC empowers developers to focus on the core logic of their application, while leaving the management of dependencies and flow control to external components.