Azure for Developers

Chapter 1. Microsoft Azure for Developers

By now, you have certainly heard of the cloud. Many major companies are using cloud computing today to power websites, mobile apps, and business software on a massive scale and can normally even save some money while doing it. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all released cloud computing platforms over the last decade that are designed to host software and services that were traditionally run out of a company’s own private data centers. Amazon was the first to get started and is still probably the biggest supplier of cloud-hosted virtual machines in the world. Google and Microsoft launched their own platforms a few years later and have developed and grown them in unique directions. Google’s cloud platform offers several hosting options and some unique and powerful big data NoSQL services. Microsoft Azure, interestingly, has adopted the most pluralistic approach to the cloud and embraces development using a wide range of programming frameworks, operating systems, and third-party services, so that a company can move its entire technology structure into the cloud regardless of the technologies it depends on.

These cloud platforms have enabled businesses and developers to evolve their applications in ways previously unavailable and unfeasible. This report will explore Microsoft’s cloud platform, Microsoft Azure, and take you through the basics of the platform and its components, on into some examples of how to properly use it for your own ...