Being a developer is a less of a headache today. Well, we must thank cloud computing for this as it has helped in many ways, especially in developing and deploying software applications into the cloud. Deploying applications has now become more comfortable as the process continues to evolve, starting from hosting at the cloud to platform as a service and now its turn for function as a service. Now let us understand what Function as a service (FaaS) is? Commonly known as FaaS, function as a service (FaaS) is the latest concept of serverless computing. Now many of you may not be knowing about serverless computing. Let us look at it first. Serverless computing is a type of computing wherein the cloud provider fully manages the allocated resources, and there’s no need for application architect for this. FaaS lets the developers write the codes and create several functions which when triggered can generate responses. These functions can be deployed in order to get responses. This helps the developers in the execution of the application’s code without even building an infrastructure for it. All these functions can be executed independently by an application. FaaS is very much closer to PaaS, but there’s a difference. In FaaS, you don’t need to deploy the whole application in the cloud. Instead, you can deploy a part of it. So why, FaaS?
  • It helps you in managing your servers.
  • Horizontal scaling is managed by the platform.
  • The plan is simple - Pay for what you use.
  • Multi-language support.
  • Applications are easy to deploy and update.
Well, serverless computing has a lot to offer, be it application migration or starting new services in the cloud.

Here are the Examples of Function as a Service (FaaS)

Amazon Lambda

Well, this is a serverless computing offering from Amazon Web Services (AWS). Many of you will wonder what this is. Let me tell you that this offering from AWS will change the way application development and its cloud hosting is done. With Amazon Lambda, you can directly run your code without even managing the servers. For example, you upload an image in the server, now the Lambda function will work for you and will automatically resize the image according to the device a user is using, be it mobile, laptop, desktop or a tablet. To use Lambda services, you need to make a plan that will be “pay as you use.” This means you’ll need to pay only for what you are using. AWS Lambda also helps developers to scale the applications by running the required codes whenever someone triggers. How it works:
  • You need to write or paste a code in the code editor.
  • Now, you need to set-up the code which is needed to be triggered by other AWS services or in-app activities.
  • You need to keep one thing in mind that Lambda will only run your code when it is triggered.
  • Pay only for the compute time and relax.
It also provides real-time processing of data.

Google Cloud Functions

Google Cloud Functions is a serverless computing service launched by Google in 2018. Google cloud functions enable developers to write codes to extend and connect to cloud services i.e., Google’s public cloud. With Google cloud functions, website developers can call particular functions that can perform specific tasks which when triggered gives a specific response. These responses are automatically triggered by the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Well, Google is known for providing a simple user experience across its all platforms. So, why Google Cloud Functions should be left behind. To provide a seamless experience to the developers, Google introduced this service. Google Cloud Functions has made it easier for the developers to do coding for the application, and they can now focus more on the coding part rather than developing infrastructure for the application. Scalability is also one of the significant throwbacks of this service. This service automatically scales the resources whenever they are needed and puts them aside when not. With the presence of conventional coding languages like JavaScript and Python, it is easier for the developers to develop the codes and upload them according to the functions.

Microsoft Azure Functions

Azure Functions are the function as a service (FaaS) launched by Microsoft. Microsoft Azure Functions is designed by keeping the developers in mind. This service helps the developers to accelerate the application designing and development process. Microsoft’s idea behind this FaaS is to eliminate the time consumed by the application infrastructure development process. Now when this is eliminated, the user can easily create the software application and upload its code. Like all other FaaS, the code runs when it gets triggered. For this, the developers need to set the trigger functions as well. Triggers can come from anywhere, like the application or from other cloud services hosted. This cloud service runs the code whenever it is triggered. The users now have to pay only for the time which is consumed by the function to run. Also, this service is hosted on Microsoft’s Public Cloud.

IBM Cloud Functions

IBM Cloud Functions, based on Apache OpenWhisk, is a serverless computing service by IBM. The service by IBM accelerated the speed of application development. FaaS helps in developing lightweight codes that are executed when demanded. The service is very similar to that of AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Functions. A developer can use this service for free for 30 days without even using their credit card credentials. A developer can run the actions in fractions of a second. This speed is very useful and is good for user experience as well.

Conclusion

Developers are mostly stuck in servers and rely on them for application development and speed. With FaaS, there’s no need to get into the server-side of things, and the developers can focus on the coding part of the application, which is a good thing. Now, they can create good codes and functions for the applications.