Function as a service

Function as a service (FaaS) is a category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage application functionalities without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app [1]. An application built following this model is deemed "serverless", and is typically used when building microservices applications.

FaaS is an extremely recent development in cloud computing, first made available to the world by AWS Lambda in 2014, followed by Google Cloud Functions and Microsoft Azure Functions in 2016 which are available for public use. FaaS capabilities also exist in private platforms as demonstrated by Uber's Schemaless triggers [2].