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The Smart Client Top Five


By Dianne Siebold
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March 15, 2007 —  (Page 1 of 5)
Are you currently at the design-phase crossroads and deciding between smart client or thin client Web architecture? If so, my advice to you is to go with smart client, hands down.

Most likely you’ve heard the term smart client and wondered what exactly it means. Some people think it’s yet another Microsoft technology to learn. Still others mistakenly think that smart client is just another name for Windows Forms. Although it encompasses development with Windows Forms, smart client is a whole lot more. It’s got a lot of advantages, but the best thing smart client architecture offers is a superior user experience.

To give smart client architecture some context, let’s look at the recent history and evolution of Windows application development. With the advent and evolution of Windows development languages, there were many software applications developed that were then referred to as “fat clients” but are now more fondly referred to as “rich clients.”

Initially these applications were constructed with the typical client/server architecture where all user interface components reside on the client and processing takes place on the server. Needless to say, a single database and the inability to distribute application logic created an inherent lack of scalability in this architecture. Subsequent technologies such as DCOM and application servers such as COM+ provided scalability by enabling the distribution of code to multiple machines. These applications became known as distributed or n-tier applications.

The primary advantages of rich client applications were robust development and debugging, improved user interface and the ability to use client-side resources. The disadvantage of rich client applications is that they’re difficult to deploy and maintain. To deploy these applications automatically, developers had to write additional utilities to handle downloading files and component registration. Because these applications relied on registered DLLs, maintenance was also a challenge.

Then along came the Web browser, and it was quickly hailed as the great equalizer that would enable software to run on all machines. The primary advantage of the browser-based application is that it’s relatively easy to install and update. Thin clients leave the client computer unaffected, and anyone with a browser can access it.




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