Whatever happened to Client-Server?

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Whatever happened to Client-Server?

The Answer is Surprising. NOTHING!

Client-Server is THE Architecture of the World Wide Web - if not the entire Internet and all Intranets!

Client-Server computing is just a philosophical approach to getting a job done. It's a very GOOD idea, which is why no matter how many changes we see in software and hardware technologies, the underlying approach to problem-solving for you and me still keeps coming back to Client-Server.

Server

Something that can be asked to do some specific task and return the result to that which asks. Typical tasks include:

Fetch a text, picture, or sound file if given its location
Calculate a function on some given numbers or invert a given matrix
Find all records that match these particular ranges on items held in the records
Send a video stream or movie
Send an audio stream or song

A Server usually knows how to carry out one kind of task. It's designed and optimized to carry out that task as fast and efficently as possible. A Server just takes requests from a Client and sends the results back. It doesn't care what operating system the Client is working on as long as the request is made in a way it can understand.

Client

Something that can ask one or more Servers to do some specific tasks for it. The Client typically takes the Server results and modifies them for display to a human operator. Results can thus be seen and heard. A human-computer interface embedded in the Client - like a Graphical User Interface or GUI - translates human requests into an intermediate form that the Client can then use to make more Server requests. A Client can talk to one or more different Servers to carry out a complicated series of actions for a human operator. A Client doesn't care what operating system a Server is running on as long as it can understand the Server's results. Each Server is tailored for efficency in one task. The Client is efficient in assembling the results of the various requests into a seemless presentation to the human operator.

Client-Server Computing

An approach to distributed computing involving centralized Servers for particular tasks and distributed Clients to make requests on those Servers. Each Server is tailored for efficency in one task. The Clients are efficient in assembling the results of various requests into a seemless presentation to the human operator. The Servers may be all on the same computer platform or on different computer platforms linked by a Local or Wide Area Network ( LAN or WAN). The Clients may be on the same computer platforms or on other platforms on that same LAN or WAN. Client-Server Computing allows for flexibility in physical location!

You are using Client-Server right now! Your Web Browser asked the Web Server upon which this HTML file sits to send you a copy of it. Your Client then translated it into the displayed text you're now reading. Want to see what the Web Server literally sent the Web Browser - before the Web Browser translated it into a nice display?

Look at the Source of this HTML file.

If it's a Netscape Browser, look under View on the Menu and select Document Source.
If it's a Mosaic Browser, look under File on the Menu and select Document Source