PaaS Is Automation
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Join For FreeCloud computing has a challenge endemic to many Silicon valley advances -
a great technology triumph somewhat disconnected from a clear business
benefit.
The developer version of cloud computing is PaaS (Platform as a
Service). Like cloud computing in general, PaaS has struggled to
articulate clearly why it deserves to capture the hearts and minds of
enterprise developers
Hipper web developers have had no such hesitations and have collectively
leapt to cloud computing platforms like Heroku and Cloud Foundry for
Ruby on Rails.
This difference in adoption tells an important story. By and large,
enterprise developers have spent years building highly automated
toolchains centered around tools like Eclipse and Clearcase and
targeting both desktop and web clients.
In contrast, platforms like Ruby on Rails were designed for web
deployment and web tooling, so fit the online/PaaS model more naturally.
I would argue that from an enterprise developer's point of view, PaaS is
just about automation. When a PaaS appears with associated tooling that
makes it easier for enterprise developers to do their work in the cloud
than on their desktop, we will see a big spike in adoption. At a
minimum, this will require the following:
1. Seamless integration with existing tools: developers will want an easy on-ramp that doesn't require them to abandon existing tools like Eclipse, Clearcase
2. Automated build and test: this is where an integrated cloud tool chain can really rock, but only if it is easier to use than existing internal solutions.
3. Opinionated client stack: one of the biggest things holding
Java back for full web development is that Java is not opinionated about
how to build a client stack in the way that for example Ruby on Rails
is. This means every development team has to come up with its own
scaffolding and build process, making it difficult to deliver an
automation solution that satisfies.
Of these three, the third is the real show stopper. More on this later.
ps. I thought briefly about coining a new acronym, PaaS *Is* Automation
Stupid, but decided that we have enough acronyms in this space.
Published at DZone with permission of Chris Keene, DZone MVB. See the original article here.
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