Chapter 3. Your First Cloud App
In Douglas Adams’ seminal work The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Pan Books), the title refers to a fictional electronic guidebook that serves as the repository for all knowledge and wisdom. If you were off on an interstellar adventure, this would be the book you would want by your side at all times. However, since the device itself looked insanely complicated to operate, and partly because intergalactic adventures tend to get scary at times, the book had the words “DON’T PANIC” written in large, friendly letters on the back cover, always in uppercase.
In this chapter, you’ll start building applications on Windows Azure. You’ll begin by downloading the SDK, exploring it, peeking around its corners, and getting a basic application running inside a Microsoft data center somewhere. Windows Azure is a vast, sprawling platform, and exploring it can look a bit daunting at first. But rest assured that it is all familiar Microsoft technology, with standard, easy-to-use APIs and friendly developer tools. So, in the immortal words of Douglas Adams, “DON’T PANIC.”
Signing Up for Windows Azure
The Windows Azure Developer Portal is a one-stop shop for all your service management and Windows Azure needs. The portal contains everything from all the projects/storage accounts underneath your account, to links to billing information. To sign up, head to http://windows.azure.com. You’ll be asked to create an account by signing in with your Live ID credentials and providing ...
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