Fat Clients
Fat clients, also known as thick clients, are client-server architecture applications where most of the processing and business logic occurs on the client-side device rather than on a central server. These applications typically require significant local resources like processing power, memory, and storage, and often need to be installed and updated manually on each client machine. They contrast with thin clients, which rely heavily on server-side processing.
Developers should learn about fat clients when building desktop applications, gaming software, or tools that require high performance, offline functionality, or complex user interfaces that benefit from local processing power. This architecture is useful in scenarios with limited or unreliable network connectivity, or when applications need to leverage specific hardware capabilities of client devices, such as graphics processing in CAD software or video editing tools.