Editing Client (computing)

{{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]].

==Types==
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Client types and their features
|
!<small>Relies on <br />local storage</small>
!<small>Relies on <br />local [[CPU]]</small>
|-
!Fat client
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!Diskless node
|{{no}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!Thin client
|{{no}}
|{{no}}
|}
In one classification, client computers and devices are either [[thick client]]s, [[thin client]]s, or [[diskless node]]s.

===Thick===
{{main|Thick client}}

A ''thick client'', also known as a ''rich client'' or ''fat client'', is a client that performs the bulk of any data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily rely on the [[Server (computing)|server]]. The [[personal computer]] is a common example of a fat client, because of its relatively large set of features and capabilities and its light reliance upon a server. For example, a computer running an [[Art software|art program]] (such as [[Krita]] or [[Sketchup]]) that ultimately shares the result of its work on a network is a thick client. A computer that runs almost entirely as a standalone machine save to send or receive files via a network is by a standard called a [[workstation]].

===Thin===
{{main|Thin client}}
[[File:PCExpanion.jpg|thumb|A thin client computer]]

A ''thin client'' is a minimal sort of client.  Thin ''clients'' use the resources of the host computer. A thin client generally only presents processed data provided by an [[application server]], which performs the bulk of any required data processing. A device using [[web application]] (such as [[Office Web Apps]]) is a thin client.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Baratto |first1=Ricardo A. |last2=Kim |first2=Leonard N. |last3=Nieh |first3=Jason |title=Proceedings of the twentieth ACM symposium on Operating systems principles |chapter=THINC: A virtual display architecture for thin-client computing |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1095810.1095837 |series=Sosp '05 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=277–290 |doi=10.1145/1095810.1095837 |date=20 October 2005|isbn=9781595930798 |s2cid=723321 }}</ref>

===Diskless node===
A ''diskless node'' is a mixture of the above two client models. Similar to a fat client, it processes locally, but relies on the server for storing persistent data. This approach offers features from both the fat client (multimedia support, high performance) and the thin client (high manageability, flexibility). A device running an online version of the [[video game]] [[Diablo III]] is an example of diskless node.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{File sharing}}
{{Aggregators}}
{{Download managers}}

[[Category:Clients (computing)| ]]
[[Category:Peer-to-peer computing]]