Over the past thirty years, during which computer software applications have played a vital role in business operations, the concept of client/server applications has evolved. In the early 1980s, the term Client/Server primarily referred to the capabilities of powerful new centralized hardware. The computing world is different today and the concept is best defined as a system where different logical components are separated from each other. The first of the three basic logical components is presentation logic. Presentation logic is what is shown to the end user and manages the input and output of the underlying application. The second logical component is the processing logic. Processing logic handles all input and output processing and contains all the business rules and logical processing that drives the system. The final logical component is storage logic, where data is stored and retrieved and often takes the form of a database. These three components can be found in any type of client/server database environment. How these logical components are grouped forms the basis of a layered approach to a client/server system. The most basic of these is called a single-tier application, in which all three logical components are grouped together as part of the client software. In this configuration, each “client application has its own copy of the database engine; only the data is shared, not the database logic itself. (Fastie, 1999) This type of system is easy to develop but has several disadvantages when many users use it. To overcome these shortcomings, most applications do not use the single-tier environment and instead use a two- or three-tier environment to separate the di...... middle of paper ...... Server application It is important to look at the different types available and how the system will be used. Although a single-tier environment can be easy to develop, it can cause complications later when a new interface layer is desired. The same goes for two-tier environments, if too much of the application layer is included in the client application. However, the inclusion of poor server-hosted application processing could cause performance issues and require expensive server hardware to process client requests. It's important to remember that no client/server environment will be perfect for all applications. Works Cited Fastie, W. (February 9, 1999). Understand client/server computing. PC Magazine, 229. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.portal.lib.fit.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA54221060&v=2.1&u=melb26933&it=r&p=CDB&sw=w