Overview
Serverless functions (e.g., AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Azure Functions) are the core of Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS). You upload your code, and the cloud provider handles the provisioning, scaling, and management of the infrastructure required to run it.
Key Features
- Event-Driven: Triggered by events like HTTP requests, file uploads, or database changes.
- Automatic Scaling: Scales from zero to thousands of concurrent executions instantly.
- Pay-per-Use: You only pay for the compute time your code actually consumes.
- Stateless: Each execution is independent; state must be stored externally (e.g., in a database).
Use Cases
- Real-time file processing (e.g., resizing images on upload).
- Building serverless APIs.
- Automating cloud infrastructure tasks.
- Data transformation and validation.