Cloudware Vendor Solutions - Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers - page 336

Java, Python, and Go runtime environments are provided with APIs (appli-
cation program interface) to interact with Google's runtime environment.
Google App Engine provides developers with a simulated environment to
build and test applications locally with any operating system that supports a
suitable version of the Python, Java, or Go language environments but with
a number of important restrictions. Recently, a number of projects such as
AppScale have been able to run Python, Java, and Go GAE applications on
EC2 and other cloud vendors.
The GAE platform also allows developers to write code and integrate
custom-designed applications with other Google services. GAE also has a
number of composable supporting services including
• Integrated Web Services
• Authentication using Google Accounts
• Scalable nonrelational, schema-less storage using standard Java
persistence
• models
• Fast in-memory storage using a key-value cache (memcache)
• Task queues and scheduling
Google App Engine not only supports Web application developers by pro-
viding the local runtime environment mentioned earlier and the associ-
ated automation of transfer and deployment on the Google servers. What
is more, many other tools, for example, Google Plugin for Eclipse, are
available for the development of Google Web Toolkit (GWT) applications.
Even when it comes to the App Engine pricing system, Google has the
needs of potential developers in mind: each developer benefits from free
quotas for CPU load, storage use, data transfer, etc., which can be used up
on a daily basis and which are usually sufficient to run developer systems
and basic Web applications. If it is predictable that more resources will be
needed, they can be purchased as an option. Prices for commercial use are
comparable to those for the Amazon Web Services.
16.2.3 Google Cloud Print
Google Cloud Print is another interesting cloud computing concept. This
service allows any application to print to any output device on the Internet.
Especially users of mobile end devices might greatly benefit from this option.
While modern Internet-enabled devices, such as notebooks, touchpads, and
mobile phones, are becoming more and more widespread, it is often difficult
or even impossible to set up a local printer that can be used by these devices.
The lack of suitable printer drivers, the partly insufficient device resources,
and the variety of operating systems in use add to this issue.