Lightning is Salesforce's platform for building modern user interfaces that are optimized for mobile and desktop. It includes the Lightning Experience interface, apps, and communities. The Lightning Component Framework is a JavaScript framework that allows building reusable UI components to customize Lightning Experience. It uses JavaScript on the client-side and Apex on the server-side. Components are self-contained pieces of UI that can be reused, and interact through events. The Lightning Design System provides style guides and components to build interfaces matching Lightning Experience.