API for interacting with SharePoint from .NET, Silverlight, and JavaScript.
This feature was introduced with SharePoint 2010.
The client-side object model (CSOM) provides client-side applications with access to a subset of the SharePoint Foundation server object model, including core objects such as site collections, sites, lists, and list items. As described in Data Access for Client Applications, the CSOM actually consists of three distinct APIs—the ECMAScript object model, the Silverlight client object model, and the .NET managed client object model—that target distinct client platforms. The ECMAScript object model and the Silverlight client object model provide a smaller subset of functionality. This is designed to enhance the user experience, because it minimize the time it takes Silverlight applications or JavaScript functions running in a Web page to load the files required for operation. The .NET managed client object model provides a larger subset of functionality for standalone client applications. However, these APIs provide a broadly similar developer experience and work in a similar wa
