Cloud Event Programming Paradigms: Applications and Analysis

Rapid expansion in cloud event technologies such as Amazon Web Service's Lambda, IBM Bluemix's OpenWhisk, Google Cloud Platform's Cloud Functions, and Microsoft Azure's Functions motivates study of software development in these services and their potential as a disruptive force in commercial cloud technologies. In addition to discussing the current state of cloud event services, this paper presents two real world applications utilizing these platforms: Lambdefy, a library designed to make traditional web application run effectively in AWS Lambda, and a performant media management service designed by Trek10, capable of resizing thousands of images per second. Furthermore, we discuss how cloud event technologies enable and/or limit these applications, motivate new software design paradigms in a cloud event environment, and highlight compelling use case scenarios and barriers to entry for cloud event services. AWS cloud technologies are exclusively used due to their maturity and the recent release of the other platforms, while Node.js and the Serverless Framework are utilized for deployment and application development.