Force.com Platform Fundamentals

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The Technologies Behind a Force.com Platform App

Now that we've talked about the kinds of apps the platform can build, let's review some of the technologies behind the platform. These technologies have a big impact on what the platform supports and what it's like to develop on it.

Table 1. Key Technologies Behind the Platform
Technology Description
Multitenant architecture An application model in which all users and apps share a single, common infrastructure and code base.
Metadata-driven development model An app development model that allows apps to be defined as declarative “blueprints,” with no code required. Data models, objects, forms, workflows, and more are defined by metadata.
API Access Several application programming interfaces (APIs) provide direct access to all data stored in Force.com from virtually any programming language and platform.
  • The SOAP API and REST API integrate your organization’s data with other applications
  • The RESTful Bulk API (also available using Data Loader) loads or deletes large numbers of records
  • The Metadata API manages customizations in your organization (also available using the Force.com Migration Tool)
  • The Chatter REST API accesses Chatter feeds and social data
  • The Streaming API provides notifications reflecting data changes in your organization
Apex The world’s first on-demand programming language, which runs in the cloud on the Force.com platform servers.
Visualforce A framework for creating feature-rich user interfaces for apps in the cloud.
Mobile Access With Salesforce mobile apps, you can access custom apps built using the Force.com platform’s point-and-click development tools. Your users can access those apps on their mobile devices—and you don’t have to learn any mobile programming languages.
AppExchange directory A Web directory where hundreds of Force.com apps are available to Salesforce customers to review, demo, comment upon, and/or install. Developers can submit their apps for listing on the AppExchange directory if they want to share them with the community.