CLOUD COMPUTING

Capitalism has proven to be a successful system of commerce in terms of its capacity to generate wealth. One of the secrets to capitalism's success appears to be its competitive dimension. In the microcomputing arena, one of the latest trends to emerge is called cloud computing. Numerous companies have sprouted across the capitalist landscape to offer an array of cloud services. In terms of their capabilities, these cloud services range in scope from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) to Software as a Service (SaaS).

Prior to the arrival of cloud computing, at first, there was the desktop computing paradigm. Under the desktop paradigm, standalone hardware and software resided on the local desktop computer. The user completed all computing chores using this dedicated hardware and software infrastructure.

The next leap forward in microcomputing was the network or client-server computing paradigm. One of the biggest benefits of the network paradigm was this: It enabled multiple users to share applications, data, and information across a network. Sometimes the computers connected to the network would be located hundreds of miles apart from one another. One drawback of the network computing paradigm was this: It became the responsibility of the corporation or computer owner to purchase, maintain, upgrade, and replace the underlying software and hardware infrastructure.

The most recent leap forward in microcomputing is cloud computing. One of the biggest benefits of cloud computing is this: No dedicated software or hardware is required by the user or corporation. The software and hardware infrastructure is supplied, maintained, updated, and replaced by the cloud vendor. To gain access to a cloud application, the user only needs an Internet connection and a device to connect to the Internet. Most users connect to the Internet via mobile cellular phones, wireless tablet or laptop devices, wired desktop computers, and so forth.

Take, for instance, the traditional chore of database processing. Numerous companies have emerged in the competitive business space for cloud database applications. These companies actively are competing with one another to provide consumers with the richest possible cloud database computing experience. The rewards for being successful include enormous corporate profits, corporate prestige, and personal enrichment.

Once upon a time, database processing was the exclusive domain of corporate titans. Robust database applications such as Oracle's DB, IBM's DB2, Microsoft's SQL Server, Oracle/Sun Microsystems's MySQL, FileMaker's FileMaker Server, postgresql.org's PostgreSQL, Sybase's Adaptive Server Enterprise, SAP's MaxDB, and so forth, have dominated the business space for database processing. These corporate titans traditionally have implemented the client-server model of database processing, and their software has proven to be quite capable of handling millions of records. In time, however, the cloud model of database processing is expected to supplant the client-server model, which is not to suggest that the corporate titans will not be major players in the cloud database SaaS arena, too.

A few of the new arrivals in the competitive space for cloud database applications include:

• https://cloudtables.com/
  
• https://airtable.com//
  
• https://quintadb.com/
  
• https://www.dataweb.com
  
• http://www.qrimp.com
  
• https://www.openxava.org/
  
• https://www.teamdesk.net
  
• https://www.caspio.com
  
• https://www.zoho.com/creator/
  
• https://www.hyperoffice.com/online-database-hyperbase/
  
• httpd://www.nubuilder.com/
  
• httpd://www.outsystems.com/
  
• httpd://www.grubba.net
  

Please note that the above list of cloud database competitors, by far, is not comprehensive. The above list only provides a sampling of available cloud database applications in the marketplace.

In the past, data used to be static on the Internet. The user would be presented with a table or chart to peruse. Next, data became dynamic on the Internet. It became possible for the user to query the data, but it was somewhat cumbersome for website developers to output the queries in interesting and varied formats. With the advent of cloud database processing, it is now possible for users to input data into the database and instantaneously see the results of that input in various formats (such as charts, pivot tables, and maps). The website developer, for instance, is relieved of the tedious chore of creating and formatting reports from scratch.

The World Bank's interactive datatable coupled with the hyperlinked population map below provides a tiny illustration of the promise of cloud computing. Additional cloud features include the ability to add new entries to the data (say, to add a new nation), update existing entries (say, to replace the 2020 population count with the 2050 population count), query the data, filter the data, group the data, create charts from the data, and so forth.

The chart below depicts projected human population growth during the 21st century. These projections are based on the medium variant of the UN's 2010 Revision of World Population Prospects dataset. According to these UN population projections, the human population is expected to increase by 47% from year 2010 (6,895,889,018 billion humans) to year 2100 (10,124,926,196 billion humans), or a projected net increase of 3,229,037,178 (billion) humans during this 90-year span of time. Click the chart below for additional charts and maps. These additional charts and maps provide more insights into the UN's population data.

The Earth-hEart logo below brings a real-world perspective to these projected population numbers to convey why these numbers matter as does Sir David Attenborough's video and Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" video.

The following UN population links demonstrate the transition from the traditional client-server network approach to the cloud approach for database processing:

• World Population Prospects 2019
  
• World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations
  

To be sure, in transitioning from the older client-server or in-house corporate networking model (also known as the LAN/WAN computing paradigm), the web browser and the chore of computing across the World Wide Web form the basis for the cloud computing paradigm. For instance, regarding those UN hyperlinks listed above, your computing device (that is, its web browser) now plays the role of the client or consumer of the population data. The UN's web host now plays the role of the server, provider, or cloud conduit for rendering the UN's population data across the World Wide Web.

One of the greatest concerns about cloud computing is data security. With all of these packets of data freely floating in cyberspace, or with all of this data moving back and forth across the World Wide Web, some have begun wondering if these data packets aren't ripe for the taking by those who are interested in espionage not to mention those computer hackers who harbor malicious and unethical intentions. Some computer experts know how to intercept and grab a copy of data as it travels through fiber optics cables, and so forth, en route to its ultimate World Wide Web destination. The potential for data spying and data theft particularly holds true for those computer experts who build and maintain the hardware infrastructure for transmitting data across the World Wide Web.

For those who are interested in learning how to develop websites, numerous techniques or technologies exist for presenting interactive data in tabular form across the World Wide Web. Some of these techniques are client-focused and some are server-focused. Some of these techniques are offered for free. But website developers should be prepared to pay money to gain access to the more sophisticated or custom-built tools and techniques for presenting interactive data across the World Wide Web.

These techniques for interactively presenting data across the World Wide Web broadly can be placed into two categories: (1) the do-it-yourself variety or (2) the custom-built variety. Both varieties range in scope from the fairly simple to the very elaborate. A few of the more popular do-it-yourself varieties for interactively presenting data across the World Wide Web include:

• CGI/Perl
• XML/XSLT
• PHP/SQL
• AJAX/ASP
• JavaScript/XML
• VBScript/Tabular Data Control
• JavaScript/Tabular Data Control (which works almost the same as VBScript except a slightly different scripting language or engine is used)

Other less popular techniques for interactively presenting data across the World Wide Web include ASP/ODBC and JSP/ODBC-JDBC. A newly emerging technique for interactively presenting data across the World Wide Web appears to be the AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript) / JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) technique. The JSON data format is emerging as a popular alternative to the XML data format. Instead of AJAX meaning Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, AJAX also is beginning to mean Asynchronous JavaScript and JSON.

Custom-built varieties for interactively presenting data across the World Wide Web run the gamut from the fairly simple ones such as TinyTable and MySQL Ajax Table Editor to the more elaborate and sophisticated ones such as Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition and Oracle Application Express (Oracle APEX). Because I am not a computer wizard, and because I do not possess a college degree in computer science, personally speaking, I tend to select the fairly simple techniques.

To demonstrate how data is presented interactively in tabular form across the World Wide Web, the table in the following link uses the JavaScript/Tabular Data Control do-it-yourself technique to present the UN's population data. There are numerous ways to implement the Tabular Data Control. This particular implementation of the Tabular Data Control originally was developed by the programming team of Harvey Deitel, Paul Deitel & Tem Nieto. It further should be noted that the following technique only works with the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser. The Tabular Data Control originally was developed by Microsoft Corporation specifically to run under its Internet Explorer web browser in tandem with its Windows operating system. Competing web browsers do not natively support the Tabular Data Control. Competing browser builders do not appear to be too eager to embrace the proprietary aspects of Microsoft's innovations in browser technology.

On a related note and based on accounts I have seen, Microsoft Corporation was a pioneer or microcomputer industry leader in porting XML technology to the web browser. In the early days of XML development, Microsoft Corporation crafted a unique and impressive implementation of the XML/XSLT technique for presenting data interactively in tabular form across the World Wide Web (which, by the way, in part, accounts for one of multiple reasons why Bill Gates became a billionaire). Much like its Tabular Data Control counterpart, I rate Microsoft's implementation of the XML/XSLT technique as being fairly easy to follow, yet the results are robust and neat. Because Microsoft's implementation of the XML/XSLT technique only works when using the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser, most website developers have opted to use the JavaScript/XML technique, which is considered to be one of those browser neutral approaches for rendering XML data across the World Wide Web via the web browser.

With the sunsetting of the Internet Explorer browser coupled with a move away from proprietary web browser practices, it should be noted that the JavaScript/Tabular Data Control and the JavaScript/XML demonstrations only function with Internet Explorer version 9 and lower. Microsoft has launched its Edge web browser as a replacement for its older Internet Explorer web browser. The proprietary features have been removed from the Microsoft Edge web browser.

To further demonstrate how data is presented interactively in tabular form across the World Wide Web, the table in the following link uses the PHP/SQL do-it-yourself technique to present the UN's population data.

To mix it up a little, the following link demonstrates the CGI/Perl technique for presenting interactive data across the World Wide Web. This particular demonstration presents the population data in a vertical format unlike the horizontal format of data tables. Each record in the demo is separated by a horizontal line. The CGI/Perl technique is as rich, diverse, and sophisticated as the other techniques mentioned here when it comes to database processing across the World Wide Web. But, because I am neither a computer expert nor a Perl guru, I have opted to present a somewhat simplistic CGI/Perl demo here of the UN's population data. To be sure, as another illustration of Perl's capabilities, the Concentration game on the Just for Fun page of this website was developed with CGI/Perl courtesy of Shishir Gundavaram.

It also should be noted that the "Book Credits" page of this website (see Menus) uses the TinyTable custom-built technique for displaying interactive data in tabular form across the World Wide Web. The TinyTable technique is client-focused, which means the bulk of the database processing occurs on the user's computing device and inside the user's web browser. The following DataTables custom-built approach provides another demonstration of how data can be presented interactively in tabular form across the World Wide Web. The countries in the table below are presented in alphabetical order.

To be sure, DataTables, too, has ventured into the cloud. DataTables has created a companion CloudTables service to present interactive data in the cloud. The CloudTables approach is illustrated here:

Again, numerous custom-built techniques are available such as EditableGrid and Airtable, to cite a couple of more custom-built techniques.

The Book Links page of this website (see Menus) uses the PHP/SQL do-it-yourself technique. The PHP/SQL technique is server-focused, which means the bulk of the database processing occurs on the web server. The Book Links page is driven by Oracle's MySQL database engine. To be sure, my web host, FatCow, uses the Linux (Debian version) Apache server platform with MySQL preinstalled (as well as having other website development tools preinstalled such as Perl/CGI, PHP, and Python). In other words, sometimes you are limited to using the web tools that are available on the server of your web host. For instance, if you are a website developer and if your web host does not support ASP, .NET, and other Microsoft-centered web tools, then you would not be able to render ASP-driven web pages from that particular web host. You would have to switch to a web host who supports Microsoft-centered web tools in order to render, say, ASP-driven web pages to visitors of your website.

Database processing is but one of dozens of microcomputing chores that gradually are migrating to the so-called cloud. To be sure, both Microsoft and Oracle offer cloud database services. While I believe that cloud computing is wonderful, fabulous, inspiring, and all of that good stuff, I also believe that consumers should be given as many choices as possible. While cloud computing might be the rave of the future, I believe that corporations should continue to give consumers the option of purchasing the old-fashioned, off-the-shelf, shrinked-wrapped version of a software application. I believe that cloud computing and stand-alone computing peacefully could coexist. There always will be consumers who enjoy stand-alone computing but would rather have little to nothing to do with "cloud" computing at least in the household setting as compared to a business setting.

The topic of cloud computing is revisited in Chapter 10 of the book (The Age of Homo Sapiens Sapiens). The topic of population growth is revisited in the book's Conclusions. The following videos are meant to shed a bit more background light on this emerging technology known as cloud computing:

1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2011). World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, CD-ROM Edition
   
2. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division

1. Library of Congress - Guide to Law Online
   
2. Central Intelligence Agency - World Factbook
   
3. BBC News - Country Profiles
   
4. Wikitravel - Worldwide Travel Guide

1. Cloud Computing
   
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
   
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)
   
4. Cloud Platforms
   
5. Cloud Computing Providers
   
6. Cloud Infrastructure
   
7. Cloud Applications
   
8. List of Collaborative Software
   
9. Cloud Database
   
10. Cloud School
    
11. SOA School
    
12. Go2web20.net
    

1. One World - Nations Online Project
   
2. The Library of Congress - Country Studies
   
3. VirtualTourist.com
   

NOTE: Please view your browser's page source for a list of resources used to create this page (generally, by right clicking the mouse).