Cloud computing is just a fancy way of saying "someone else's computer." It's like renting a bunch of servers and storage from Amazon or Google so you don't have to buy and maintain your own hardware.

How to use it in a sentence

"We need to migrate our monolithic app to cloud computing so we can 'scale' and be 'web-scale'...whatever that means."

"I don't always use cloud computing, but when I do, I prefer to pay way more than just buying my own servers. Stay thirsty, my friends."

If you actually want to learn more...

• Martin Fowler provides an overview of cloud computing and its essential characteristics, service models, and deployment models based on the NIST definition. Read more at martinfowler.com/bliki/CloudComputing.html

• Fowler discusses the challenges and trade-offs of avoiding cloud computing platform lock-in, exploring strategies like using open-source solutions and separating deployment automation from application run-time. Check it out at martinfowler.com/articles/oss-lockin.html

• For a deeper dive into cloud computing application architecture, Fowler covers topics like GUI architectures, presentation logic organization, evolutionary architectures, and more. Browse the collection at martinfowler.com/tags/application%20architecture.html

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