What is a client/server application?

If you are developing business applications, you will often encounter the term client/server application.

In a client/server architecture, the user interface of an application runs on one computer (called the client), while data or services are provided by another computer (the server).

This architecture looks like this:

Client application > network > Server > database

The client sends requests to the server, and the server processes those requests and returns results. This allows multiple users to access the same data while keeping business logic and storage centralized.

Common examples include database applications where the client displays forms and reports while the server stores customer or inventory data.

With TCP/IP networks, client/server applications are increasingly replacing standalone desktop systems.

This model is good to understand when working with databases, network programming, or distributed applications.