Chapter 3

Technologies behind a LightSwitch Application

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Getting to know the three-tier application architecture pattern, and how it is used in LightSwitch
  • Understanding how the .NET Framework is used in LightSwitch applications
  • Getting to know Silverlight 4, and how LightSwitch uses this technology
  • Understanding the role of SQL Server Express when developing applications
  • Understanding how LightSwitch uses data stored in SharePoint 2010 lists
  • Getting to know Windows Azure, and how LightSwitch supports using it

This chapter provides an overview of the technologies behind a LightSwitch application. This chapter will help you to understand the main concepts of the technologies, as well as the roles they play in LightSwitch applications. Also contained in this chapter are hints about sites and books that you can use to obtain more information.

THE THREE-TIER APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE PATTERN

In the “ancient times” of software development, most problems were caused by an error in the implementation of an algorithm. Today’s line-of-business (LOB) applications, however, face architectural challenges. In a world where applications are increasingly accessible through the Web, regardless of geographical location or time of the day, several architectural aspects of applications have significant importance:

  • Variety of user interface technologies — An application must provide many types of user interfaces (UIs) to enable end-users to interact with the system ...

Get Beginning Visual Studio® LightSwitch Development now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.