Cloud Programming Simplified: A Berkeley View on Serverless Computing

Serverless cloud computing handles virtually all the system administration operations needed to make it easier for programmers to use the cloud. It provides an interface that greatly simplifies cloud programming, and represents an evolution that parallels the transition from assembly language to high-level programming languages. This paper gives a quick history of cloud computing, including an accounting of the predictions of the 2009 Berkeley View of Cloud Computing paper, explains the motivation for serverless computing, describes applications that stretch the current limits of serverless, and then lists obstacles and research opportunities required for serverless computing to fulfill its full potential. Just as the 2009 paper identified challenges for the cloud and predicted they would be addressed and that cloud use would accelerate, we predict these issues are solvable and that serverless computing will grow to dominate the future of cloud computing.