Client (computing) - Citizendia

A client is an application or system that accesses a remote service on another computer system, known as a server, by way of a network. Application software is a subclass of Computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly and thoroughly to a task that the user wishes to perform A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. A server is a Computer dedicated to providing one or more services over a computer network typically through a request-response routine The term was first applied to devices that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers via a network. In Computer hardware, a peripheral device is any device attached to a computer in order to expand its functionality (basically input and output devices together are known Computer programs (also software programs, or just programs) are instructions for a Computer. These dumb terminals were clients of the time-sharing mainframe computer. Time-sharing refers to sharing a computing resource among many users by multitasking. Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as Big Iron) are Computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications typically bulk data

The client-server model is still used today on the Internet, where a user may connect to a service operating on a remote system through the internet protocol suite. The client-server Software architecture model distinguishes client systems from server systems which communicate over a Computer network The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Users in a Computing context refers to one who uses a computer system The Internet Protocol Suite (commonly TCP/IP) is the set of Communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks Web browsers are clients that connect to web servers and retrieve web pages for display. A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text images videos music games and other information typically located on a The term web server can mean one of two things A Computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from web clients which are A web page or webpage is a resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a Web browser. Most people use e-mail clients to retrieve their e-mail from their internet service provider's mail storage servers. An e-mail client, aka Mail User Agent (MUA aka e-mail reader is a frontend Computer program used to manage E-mail. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving An Internet service provider ( ISP, also called Internet access provider or IAP) is a company which primarily offers their customers access to the Internet Online chat uses a variety of clients, which vary depending on the chat protocol being used. Online chat can refer to any kind of Communication over the Internet, but is primarily meant to refer to direct one-on-one chat or Text-based group Game Clients usually refer to the software that is the game in only multiplayer online games for the computer.

Increasingly, existing large client applications are being switched to websites, making the browser a sort of universal client. This avoids the hassle of downloading a large piece of software onto any computer you want to use the application on. An example of this is the rise of webmail.

1 Types
2 See also

Types

Clients are generally classified as either "fat clients", "thin clients", or "hybrid clients". A fat client or rich client is a computer ( client) in Client-server architecture networks which typically provides rich functionality independently A thin client (sometimes also called a lean or slim client) is a client computer or client software in Client-server architecture networks A diskless node (or diskless workstation) is a Workstation or Personal computer without Disk drives which employs Network booting

	Local storage	Local processing
Fat Client	Yes	Yes
Hybrid Client	No	Yes
Thin Client	No	No

Fat

Main article: Fat client

A fat client (also known as a thick client or rich client) is a client that performs the bulk of any data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily rely on the server. A fat client or rich client is a computer ( client) in Client-server architecture networks which typically provides rich functionality independently A server is a Computer dedicated to providing one or more services over a computer network typically through a request-response routine The fat client is most common in the form of a personal computer, as the personal computers or laptops can operate independently. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Programming environments for rich clients include Curl, Delphi, Droplets,.Net, Java, win32 and X11. The Curl programming language is a reflective Object-oriented programming language designed for interactive Web content such as Rich Internet applications Object Pascal refers to a branch of object oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary Programming language of CodeGear Delphi Droplets is a programming environment for creating network-based computing applications The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of Application programming interfaces (APIs available in the Microsoft Windows Operating

Thin

Main article: Thin client

A thin client is a minimal sort of client. A thin client (sometimes also called a lean or slim client) is a client computer or client software in Client-server architecture networks Thin clients use the resources of the host computer. A thin client's job is generally just to graphically display pictures provided by an application server, which performs the bulk of any required data processing. In n-tier architecture an application server is a Server that hosts an API to expose Business Logic and Business Processes for use by other Programming environments for thin clients include JavaScript/AJAX (client side automation), ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP and other (depends on server-side backend and uses HTML pages or rich media like Flash, Flex or Silverlight on client). JavaScript is a Scripting language most often used for Client-side web development Ruby on Rails is an Open source Web application framework for the Ruby programming language. PHP is a computer Scripting language. Originally designed for producing Dynamic web pages it has evolved to include a Command line interface capability

Hybrid

Main article: Hybrid client

A hybrid client is a mixture of the above two client models. A diskless node (or diskless workstation) is a Workstation or Personal computer without Disk drives which employs Network booting Similar to a fat client, it processes locally, but relies on the server for storage data. This approach offers features from both the fat client (multimedia support, high performance) and the thin client (high manageability, flexibility). .

Contents

Types

Fat

Thin

Hybrid

See also