If you're new to Google Cloud Platform, you might
be wondering, what are the best resources
I should know about to help me get started?
There's a lot out there and sometimes it's
difficult to know where to begin.
So today I'm going to take you on a lightning quick tour.
Google recently launched a new course
in collaboration with Udacity to help
you learn the components that make up App Engine.
There's lots of video content in the course
as well as practical hands-on coding
exercises and an integrated discussion forum
so you can learn as part of a growing community.
Every year Google holds Google I/O in San Francisco
and this year's I/O included some awesome code labs
that anyone can follow, including
two labs for Google Cloud Platform
to help you get Google Compute Engine and App Engine.
Actually, I/O has lots more resources
to help you learn about using Google technologies
and most of the tours are available for you
to watch online.
Google has organized collections of these tours by product
and you can find lots of index talks
on services like Big Query or Compute Engine.
Once you start working on your own projects,
there's a bunch of useful tools that can really
help with understanding all of the various API and parameters
that are available.
My favorite of these is the powerful API Explorer
which allows you to list, interact, and experiment
with all of the available APIs in your browser.
One of the trickiest aspects of working with most APIs is
the use of OAuth and Google has put together another Playground
specifically aimed at helping debug
the sometimes complex issues that
can arise around this protocol.
Finally, there's also a third Playground designed especially
for Google Cloud Platform that provides you
with a place to experiment and get
to know the various services from the comfort
of your browser without having to install or modify anything
on your machine.
When you feel a bit more confident with the various
services, I highly recommend you check out the detailed
documentation on cloud.google.com/docs.
You can find articles and tutorials on everything
from mobile apps, big data, gaming solutions and much more.
You'll also find links to lots of sample code
on GitHub hosted under the Google Cloud Platform account.
Actually, there are quite a lot of these repositories
on GitHub, so Google built an easy to use
front end that makes finding that sample
code you're looking for a breeze.
You could search by technology, programming language,
or solution.
Sooner or later you're going to run into a problem or issue
that you'd like some help with.
It might be a bugging or code, a performance issue, or maybe
you just need some help understanding that new feature
everyone is raving about.
For more technical questions where
you want to share some of your code,
I recommend heading over to Stack Overflow where you'll
find lots of experienced developers and Google engineers
contributing help.
Just use these tags to find the most relevant answers
to your questions.
For more general advice about which design patent or library
to use, check out the official Google Cloud Platform community
on Google+.
I often find that new developers can find the product life
cycle takes a little time to get used to.
The Google Cloud Platform product life cycle
consists of a series of stages.
Early on in the development of new products and features,
Google might offer an alpha release.
At this point, developers can ask
for one of their apps or projects
to be white listed to try out the new feature.
For alpha, Google often signs up developers
to a dedicated Google group where
they can ask questions, make suggestions, and raise issues.
Further into the product development life cycle,
Google usually offers a beta stage
where anyone can use the new features.
At this stage, you won't find a service level agreement,
or SLA, and you should expect to see
some open outstanding issues.
Next, comes general availability,
where developers can expect full support, documentation,
and an SLA.
Eventually, some services need to be retired
and these periods are typically covered
by something called a deprecation policy.
During this period, you should plan
to migrate those features or aspects of your code
that will be affected by the deprecation
before the end of the period.
The best place to keep up to date with the latest
announcements and news around Google Cloud Platform,
including upcoming events, new features, and deprecations,
is the official blog.
You can also sign up to a monthly newsletter
to have the latest news sent right to your inbox.
Finally, there are a couple of great annual events
to look out for.
Every year, many of the Google Developer
Groups, or GDGs, around the world
host community-run DevFests that include
talks, code labs, and hackathons.
You'll find many Googlers and Google Developer Experts
taking part in these events and it's a great way
to get to know your local developer community.
Many GDGs also host events to celebrate
Google I/O in their local communities
with live viewing parties, speaking sessions and product
demos.
You can learn more about these at
developers.google.com/events.
So remember, the community is made
possible through the participation
of awesome developers just like you.
I highly recommend checking out your local Google Developer
Group to see how you can contribute and have fun.
You can also take part by helping other developers online
using any of the ways I've described above.
I can't wait to meet you online or in person
and hear what you're building on Google Cloud Platform.