An overview of serverless architectures

Since the introduction of cloud computing, we have used The Blind Men and an Elephant story for different technology evolutions and trends. It becomes easier to convey that there is no clear definition of it and based on experience we define it differently based on our wisdom. There may not be any drastic difference but the view might be different. Reality is one, though wise men speak of it variously.

Let's understand serverless architecture by taking the story of blind men and an elephant:

According to this story of The Blind Men and an Elephant, the blind men decide to define an elephant by touching it and then come to their own conclusions:

• The first person placed his hand upon the elephant's trunk and said, "It feels like ... a thick snake"
• The second person placed his hand upon the elephant's ears and said, "It feels like ... a kind of fan"
• The third person placed his hand upon the elephant's legs and said, "It feels like ... a tree-trunk"
• The fourth person placed his hand upon the elephant's body and said, "It feels like ... a wall"
• The fifth person placed his hand upon the elephant's tail and said, "It feels like ... a rope"
• The sixth person placed his hand upon the elephant's tusks and said, "It feels like ... a spear"

So, there are different perspectives, but the elephant remains the same. There are many perspectives, views, and definitions available for serverless architectures or serverless computing.

Let's understand serverless architecture with respect to the evolution of computing:

Based on the pattern of usage, the use of an on-premise resource evolved into the use of to serverless computing.