Before we look at the Simple Queue Service (SQS), let's look at what a message queue is. A message queue is a queue of messages exchanged between applications. Messages are data objects that are inserted in the queue by sender applications and received by the receiving applications. Receiving applications get the data objects from the queue and process the data received from the queue based on the application requirement. Figure 12.1 describes the message queue in a simple way:
Figure 12.1: Message queue
SQS is a highly reliable, scalable, and distributed message queuing service provided by Amazon. It's a hosted solution provided by Amazon so that you do not need to manage the service infrastructure. SQS stores the messages in transit as they travel between various applications and micro services. Amazon provides a host of web service APIs, which can be accessed using any programming language supported by AWS SDK.
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce...