Why should I blog about this topic? You can just “google” and find the resources by your own. I write this blog post, because I want to share briefly my experience with you and I hope you can save time, when you get started with IBM Cloud development.
This blog post is about following major IBM Cloud information resources:
The work of a developer has a wide range, and can be very different, by starting from addressing user needs, to what is the right architecture and technology, including method and the tooling. In other words developers wearing different hats of roles at the same time even when the role is not directly assigned to them.
Let’s start this blog post with my definition for information resources:
“Finding the right information, depends on your expectation”
This is a simple and obvious statement, but from my perspective simple knowledge must be repeated, to get the right attention.
Following my own statement I first define my expectations, before I will write about the resources.
What are my expectations on information resources?
When I searching for development topics, I have mainly two different high-level categories in mind, the “content” and the “consumability”.
A little bit more about the category “content”.
These are my three major topics:
- Getting executable code
Is there sample executable source code? It would be perfect, if I directly find matches to my technical or use case problem. - Wanting the right method/tools
Which development processes is out of the box supported, to support my daily “development” work, to organize myself? Today agile is the usual way. - Searching for the right architecture
How to get help to choose the right architecture approach inside IBM Cloud.“Which components do I need to implement my application in IBM Cloud?”
A small spoiler: the first expectation is fulfilled in each the of given IBM Cloud information resources. Each of them pointing to sample code in github.
Official IBM Cloud documentation
Link: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/
The official IBM Cloud documentation, is structured in following major sections: get started, build, manage and tools.
My experience with this resource is, that it does mostly provide awesome consumable content. The reason for saying mostly is that it depends on my knowledge level in cloud technologies, how fast you can consume the content.
So, you should keep in mind the IBM Cloud documentation is not an introduction into technology.
I would say the documentation addresses the all my three expectation topics partly.
The clear objective of is this resource is to provide:
- tooling guides
- explaining the platform
- introducing services
Once again: The documentation describes: How to use the IBM Cloud services and the IBM Cloud platform, and is not introduction into technology.
IBM Developer
Link: https://developer.ibm.com
This content really addresses developer and implementation topics.
Developers who building applications on cloud or integrating cloud services into applications, do share their knowledge.
The IBM Developer source is about all about code, content (technology) and community (exchange).
The community coder starter guide (https://developer.ibm.com/code/wp-content/uploads/sites/118/2017/12/IBM-Coder-Starter-Guide-0.4.pdf) is a very good description of: What is the community objective and includes the useful information relevant for the daily life of a developer.
I would say: IBM Developer addresses all my three expectations. But the main focus is providing the executable code with Code Patterns. Code Patterns are written from developers for developers. The Code Patterns are marked with an indication of the skill levels and technologies categories. They are a easy consumable for developers, and they help to understand the usage of technologies with sample code.
A Code Pattern is structured in summary, description, flow and instructions. Sometimes a name of a Code Pattern can be a little misleading, but in total they are very useful and do provide easy consumable information about: how to code and how to deploy an application into the IBM Cloud or just locally on you local pc.
With the filter option for technology, industry and deployment models, this makes it easy finding Code Patterns for these topics.
It can take from just “1 to 2 hours” to “2 ½ days” to dive into a Code Pattern.
The time depends on your coding and technology experience. It is really for developers , who know, how to write code.
Link: https://developer.ibm.com/patterns/
IBM Cloud Garage Method
Link: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/garage
This source is about Methods, Architectures, learning Courses and the professional Services which IBM provides.
The source fulfils obviously mainly my second and third expectation. It helps to understand, how to outline a architecture for productive with IBM Cloud usage, and it also points to code samples on github and offers guides for learning technologies.
For me, this it is the best source for addressing Cloud architecture topics.
The agile Garage Method helps to figure out: Which problem does my customer need to address, before I start building a solution and then make it real with initial implementation of a MVP.
Summary
In total these three major IBM Cloud resources are very useful for me and
only the combination of these three resources do fulfil my three expectations as a whole. The work of a developer has a wide range, and can be very different, by starting from addressing user needs, to what is the right architecture and technology, including method and the tooling. In other words developers wearing different hats of roles at the same time even when the role is not directly assigned to them.
I hope this blog post was useful for you and saves your time, when choosing the right information resource related to your expectation in the future.
Being even faster, than only using “googling” 😉
Greetings, Thomas
PS: By the way, you can use the IBM Cloud for free, if you simply create an IBM Lite account. Here you only need an e-mail address.
#ibmcloud #ibmdeveloper #ibmgarage
Thomas Suedbroecker's Blog 