Cloud Computing
Overview
Cloud computing provides on-demand computing resources—servers, storage, databases, networking, and more—over the internet. Instead of owning hardware, organizations rent capacity from cloud providers and pay for what they use.
Why this category matters: Cloud has become the default deployment model for software. Understanding cloud architectures, services, and trade-offs is essential for building scalable, reliable, and cost-effective applications.
TL;DR
- Cloud computing offers on-demand infrastructure without owning hardware
- Three major providers: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
- Service models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, Serverless
Featured Topics
Major Cloud Providers
- AWS — Amazon Web Services, largest provider (~32% market share)
- Azure — Microsoft's cloud, strong enterprise integration
- Google Cloud — Strong in ML/AI, Kubernetes, and data
- DigitalOcean — Developer-friendly, simpler offerings
AWS Services
- Compute: EC2 (virtual machines), Lambda (serverless functions), ECS & EKS (containers/Kubernetes), Fargate (serverless containers)
- Storage & Data: S3 (object storage), RDS (relational), DynamoDB (NoSQL), ElastiCache (in-memory cache)
- Networking & Delivery: VPC (virtual network), CloudFront (CDN), Route 53 (DNS)
- Identity & Messaging: IAM (access control), Cognito (user auth), SQS & SNS (queues & pub/sub)
- Events & Streaming: EventBridge (event bus), Kinesis (real-time streaming), Step Functions (workflow orchestration)
- APIs & Observability: API Gateway (managed APIs), CloudWatch (monitoring & logs)
Azure Services
- Compute: Virtual Machines (IaaS), App Service (PaaS web apps), Functions (serverless), Container Apps & AKS (containers/Kubernetes)
- Storage & Data: Blob Storage (object storage), SQL Database (relational), Cosmos DB (global NoSQL)
- Identity & Messaging: Microsoft Entra ID (identity, formerly Azure AD), Service Bus (enterprise messaging)
Google Cloud Services
- Compute: Compute Engine (VMs), Cloud Functions (serverless), Cloud Run & GKE (containers/Kubernetes)
- Storage & Data: Cloud Storage (object storage), Cloud SQL (relational), Spanner (distributed SQL), Bigtable (wide-column NoSQL), BigQuery (data warehouse)
- Messaging & AI: Pub/Sub (messaging & streaming), Vertex AI (ML platform)
Serverless & Platforms
- Vercel — Frontend and serverless deployment
- Cloudflare Workers — Edge computing
- Edge Computing — Running code at the network edge, near users
- Supabase — Backend-as-a-service with PostgreSQL
- Firebase — Google's app development platform
- Serverless Patterns — Architecture and trade-offs
Cross-Cutting Concerns
- Multi-Cloud — Running across providers
- Cloud Costs — Managing and optimizing spend
- Cloud Networking — VPCs, subnets, and connectivity
Service Models
Learning Path
Beginner
Understand cloud concepts. Create free tier accounts. Deploy a simple application.
Intermediate
Learn core services (compute, storage, networking). Build with IaC (Terraform/CDK).
Advanced
Multi-region architectures, cost optimization, security best practices, certifications.