Cloud computing
What is it?
Cloud computing is the use of remote servers, storage and services accessed over the internet instead of relying solely on local hardware. For makers this means prototypes and IoT devices can send data and offload processing to scalable services; for web developers it enables easy hosting, scaling and management of websites, APIs and databases. Cloud platforms offer different service models (IaaS, PaaS, serverless) and pay-as-you-go pricing, but also introduce considerations like latency, security and potential vendor lock-in.
Practical example
Imagine building a smart plant-watering prototype as a maker using a Raspberry Pi and sensors. The Pi sends humidity and temperature data to a cloud database and a serverless function analyzes the data to trigger a water pump; at the same time a cloud-hosted web dashboard shows you real-time graphs and alerts. As a web developer you use the same cloud provider for the APIs, hosting and CI/CD pipeline so firmware updates, user authentication and data visualization work together smoothly without maintaining your own servers.
Test your knowledge
Which characteristic makes cloud computing especially useful for both maker projects (like IoT prototypes) and web development?