Principal component analysis vs factor analysis vs maximum-likelihood factor analysis

[Stefano Bevilacqua]

What are the fundamental differences between a partial component analysis, a factor analysis, and a maximum-likelihood factor analysis?

[Carlo Lazzaro]

Stefano:
this kind of questions are usually left unreplied because each considerate interested lister would take days to draft a satisfactory answer.
The fix is to point the original poster to a textbook, such the following one, that I found interesting: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/A+User%2...-9780471471349.
As an aside, please note that unlike 5/10 years ago the interest on PCA and the like seems to have become lukewarm (on this forum, at least).