clientContext.Site vs clientContext.Web difference

Question

What is the difference between clientContext.Site and clientContext.Web when using the Client Object Model?

Answer 1

site returns an SP.Site object (called "Site Collection" in non-API documentation) and web returns an SP.Web object (called "Site" in non-API documentation). The web's Site is the same as site.

Different operations can be performed upon the different hierarchical objects. Either the Site or the Web will be required depending upon operation (the operations are exposed by the API) - that's all.

See Overview of Sites (aka "SP.Web") and Site Collections (aka "SP.Site") in SharePoint - for how the two different types relate.