Compute, Containers and Serverless

The building blocks that actually run your code in the cloud: virtual machines, containers, functions, and how they scale.

A plain-English guide to virtual machines: what they are, how they work, and when a VM is the right (or wrong) tool for a beginner's project.

Learn what a container is in cloud computing, how it differs from a virtual machine, and why developers package applications this way.

A clear, side-by-side comparison of virtual machines and containers to help beginners understand which one fits a given project.

Understand cloud functions and Function as a Service (FaaS) in plain English, including when this event-driven approach makes sense.

Learn how auto-scaling automatically adds or removes cloud resources based on demand, and the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling.

A plain-English explanation of container orchestration and Kubernetes, covering what the concept does without any commands or configuration files.

Learn what a hypervisor is, how it creates and isolates virtual machines on a single physical server, and the two main types in plain English.

A practical, beginner-friendly checklist for choosing between a virtual machine, a container, or a serverless cloud function for your project.

A plain-English explanation of load balancing: how it spreads traffic across servers and why it's essential for reliable cloud applications.