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BOLTON INSTITUTE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING AND ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY COMPUTING PATHWAY SEMESTER 1 EXAMINATION 2004/2005 CLIENT SERVER SOLUTIONS MODULE NO: CST3005
Date: Wednesday 26 January 2005 Time: 2.00 pm 4.00 pm

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

There are FIVE questions. Answer QUESTIONS ONE AND TWO from Section A and ANY TWO questions from Section B.

Page 2 of 3 Computing & Electronic Technology Computing Pathway Semester 1 Examination 2004/2005 Client Server Solutions Module No: CST3005 Section A answer BOTH questions 1) a) Draw diagrams to illustrate the difference between thin client and fat client approaches to the design of two tier client-server solutions. The diagrams should indicate what software is operational in each tier and the nature of communications protocol involved. 12 marks

b) Explain how the term software tiers can have more than one meaning. Indicate how this leads to a situation where there are more tiers of software than of hardware, illustrating your answer with a diagram. 10 marks c) Describe the functionality of a terminal on a mainframe and explain how a PC can be used to perform the same function. 8 marks

2) The following questions all relate to Visual Basic a) Assess the significance of the event-driven paradigm to the use of Visual Basic when developing the user interface of client-server software. 10 marks b) Give an example of how to specify the effect that messages being received by the client can have on the components on the client interface. 7 marks c) Explain in detail why the Bind method for the Winsock component is used. 6 marks d) Differentiate between use of UDP and TCP protocols using Winsock. 7 marks

Please turn the page

Page 3 of 3 Computing & Electronic Technology Computing Pathway Semester 1 Examination 2004/2005 Client Server Solutions Module No: CST3005 Section B answer Any TWO questions 3) What are the advantages of using a transaction processing monitor (TPM) such as Tuxedo or Microsoft Transaction Server in terms of development effort. 14 marks What is the advantage of a TPM for system performance and indicate how this is achieved. 6 marks

4) a) Explain the principal differences between XML and HTML. 4 marks b) Describe the advantages of XML as a means of exchanging data between computers from the perspective of a software developer. 4 marks c) Describe the functionality of a workflow application and explain what software tools led to its development. 8 marks d) Compare the potential for a workflow solution to be found in large organisations rather than small companies. 4 marks 5) a) Describe the principal features of an application written in Biztalk. 8 marks b) Compare the process of software development within Biztalk with the approach taken in standard third generation programming languages (eg C, Pascal, C++ ), illustrating your answer with diagrams. 12 marks

END OF QUESTIONS