Editing Client (computing) (section)

{{Short description|Piece of software accessing a server service}}
[[File:Client-server-model.svg|thumb|200px|A [[computer network diagram]] of client computers communicating with a [[Server (computing)|server computer]] via the [[Internet]]|alt=]]

'''<span lang="en" dir="ltr">Client</span>''' is a [[computer]] that gets information from another computer called [[Server (computing)|server]] in the context of [[client–server model]] of [[computer network]]s. The server is often (but not always) on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Course |first1=Microsoft Official Academic |title=Exam 70-643 Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration |date=8 July 2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-22513-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JDxxDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Client%22+computing+-wikipedia&pg=PA280 |language=en}}</ref>

A client is a [[computer program|program]] that, as part of its operation, relies on sending a request to another program or a computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by a server (which may or may not be located on another computer).<ref name=":2" /> For example, [[web browser]]s are clients that connect to [[web server]]s and retrieve [[web page]]s for display.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=client/server |url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/clientserver |access-date=8 November 2022 |website=PCMag Encyclopedia}}</ref> [[Email client]]s retrieve [[email]] from [[mail server]]s. [[Online chat]] uses a variety of clients, which vary on the chat protocol being used. [[Multiplayer video game]]s or [[online video game]]s may run as a client on each computer.<ref name=":2" /> The term "client" may also be applied to computers or devices that run the client software or users that use the client software.

A client is part of a [[client–server model]], which is still used today. Clients and servers may be computer programs run on the same machine and connect via inter-process communication techniques. Combined with [[Internet socket]]s, programs may connect to a service operating on a possibly remote system through the [[Internet protocol suite]]. Servers wait for potential clients to initiate connections that they may accept.

The term was first applied to [[Peripheral device|device]]s that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers via a network. These [[computer terminal]]s were clients of the [[time-sharing]] [[mainframe computer]].