The “It’s Complicated” Relationship Between Client & Server

Of all the relationships that exist within the tech universe, perhaps none is quite as “complicated” yet synchronous as that between a client and its server. As someone who learned computer science mostly coding on the front-end (is it acceptable to call CSS my favorite language?), working with servers was unexplored territory for me when I started my Google internship just one month ago. Today, however, the client/server relationship is one I have explored thoroughly and, while certainly complicated, one which is essential to understand. Below, I’ve outlined the key characteristics of this technological romance.

The client is needy.

The most fundamental part of the client/server relationship is that the client needs its server. A new web app I am currently developing displays an HTML page (with JavaScript) for a user to login to their Google account, then uses its server (a Google Cloud Function) to make a call to the Google Sheets API. GCF acts as a wonderful option here due to its being a lightweight & server-less back-end.

This back-end action — of making a call to the Sheets API — is done server-side. Why? Because when you’re collecting data, the server adds security the client does not offer. In my applet, using a server protects my API keys. So, while the client is great for displaying…