ARCHIVED: What is a distributed application?
A distributed application is a program that runs on more than one computer and communicates through a network. Some distributed applications are actually two separate software programs: the back-end (server) software and the front-end (client) software. Back-end software runs on a shared system (such as a shared Unix or VMS system) and manages shared resources, such as disks, printers, and modems. The back-end software also contains the main processing capability for the application. The front-end (client) software runs on workstations. It is the software you see when you use the application. It handles user interface functions, such as receiving input from a keyboard and displaying output to a screen.
Distributed applications can be relatively simple, requiring a single client computer and a single server, or more complex, allowing many client computers and several servers.
For example, web browsers are distributed applications. Browsers require back-end software (servers on the World Wide Web as well as front-end software installed on your workstation (e.g., Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer).
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Last modified on 2023-09-22 17:54:40.