Microsoft® Visual J#™ .NET (Core Reference)

Chapter 1. The Challenge of N-Tier Development

These days, developers rarely build standalone, self-contained business applications that are intended to run on a single computer. It seems that all the applications being built are part of something bigger and comprise other bits and pieces. Of course, you need not know how these other components work. The code simply has to "talk" to them using well-defined interfaces. What’s more, these components can be located almost anywhere on the planet. The developer’s job is to build a system using these components and to make sure it works.

Integrating preexisting components into a functional, scalable, distributed structure that operates in a timely manner and makes the most efficient use of resources ...