In this first chapter, we will discuss the main properties of Google App Engine (GAE) and its Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) approach. Available since 2008, GAE provides a serverless environment in which to deploy HTTP/web-based applications.
Throughout this chapter, we will explore GAE's framework and structure to see how highly scalable applications are made possible on this platform. As part of this, we will consider how to integrate standard web primitives such as traffic splitting and API management on GAE. By the end of this chapter, you should have a solid foundation to help you build web-based applications using GAE quickly.
In a nutshell, we will cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Introducing GAE
- Understanding the GAE framework
- Defining App Engine components
- Understanding GAE's features