Environment and Architecture

Abstract

Windows desktop applications and web applications have many differences, but one difference seems to be fundamental. This difference lies in the relative locations of the application itself and its user interface:

• When you run a Windows desktop application, the user interface appears on the screen of the machine on which the application is running. Messages between the application and its user interface are passed through the operating system of the machine. There’s just one machine involved here and no network.

• When you run a web application, the user interface can appear in the browser of any machine. Messages between the application and its user interface must also pass across a network, because, typically, the web application and its user interface are on two separate machines.