[chuinard]

As a 2+ year user of Firebase, this is long overdue. I built my own cloud function infrastructure using their Java SDK and Digital Ocean and I couldn't have built my app (ProBooks.com) without it. It's good to see Cloud Functions moving from Alpha to Beta!

[gfosco]

Yeah, I remember when Parse offered these cloud functions back in 2012... It was a game-changer for "Backend-as-a-Service."

[elastic_church]

Wait till Google axes Firebase with no warning

How many times can devs be burned, are we all masochists or just not have any memory of the last project that offered all this

[imtringued]

I don't understand all the firebase and parse clones. They are not significantly better than firebase and they all entail vendor lock-in. The only real alternative is couchdb which unfortunately lacks document level read permissions (and filtered replication wastes storage) and still requires you to have an additional minimal server for the signup and passwort reset process.

[sdflkd]

Masochists, no?

[elastic_church]

yes, edited

[kiliankoe]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of functionality were you only able to build this way?

[chuinard]

One feature of my app is the PDF creation of invoices and estimates. I use a Java library to make these PDFs. Developing an iOS, web, and Android app that syncs in real-time is much easier (or even possible) when your PDFs are made on the backend.

[inlined]

Part of the primary power of cloud functions is you can extend firebase services instead of intermediating them. This lets you still take advantage of all the great features in the firebase SDKs.