Platform engineering is the practice of designing, building, and maintaining the infrastructure and tools that support the development and operation of software applications and systems. It involves a combination of software engineering, systems engineering, and operations practices and principles, and is focused on creating scalable, reliable, and maintainable platforms for software development and deployment.
Platform engineering involves designing and building the underlying infrastructure and tools that support the development, testing, deployment, and operation of software applications and systems. This can include infrastructure such as servers, storage, and networks, as well as tools and platforms for building and deploying software, such as continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, container orchestration platforms, and monitoring and alerting systems.
Platform engineers are responsible for designing and building the platforms and infrastructure that support the development and operation of software applications and systems, as well as maintaining and improving these platforms over time. This can involve designing and building infrastructure as code, automating deployment and management processes, and monitoring and troubleshooting issues as they arise.
Platform engineering is a key practice in the field of software engineering, and is particularly important in modern cloud-based environments where software applications and systems are often built and deployed using agile and DevOps practices.
Features and Characteristics of Platform Engineering:
- Scalability: Platform engineering involves designing and building infrastructure and tools that can scale to meet the needs of a growing user base or workload.
- Reliability: Platform engineering is focused on building infrastructure and tools that are reliable and able to support the operation of software applications and systems without interruption.
- Maintainability: Platform engineering involves designing and building infrastructure and tools that are easy to maintain and upgrade over time, allowing for the ongoing development and evolution of software applications and systems.
- Automation: Platform engineering often involves using automation tools and practices to streamline the development, deployment, and operation of software applications and systems.
- Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD): Platform engineering involves building and maintaining the infrastructure and tools needed to support the continuous integration and delivery of software updates and changes.
- Containerization: Platform engineering may involve the use of containerization technologies, such as Docker, to package and deploy software applications and their dependencies.
- Monitoring and alerting: Platform engineering involves building and maintaining the tools and infrastructure needed to monitor the performance and availability of software applications and systems, and to alert relevant parties when issues arise.
These are just a few examples of the features and characteristics that are typically associated with platform engineering. The specific features and characteristics of a platform engineering practice will depend on the needs and goals of the software applications and systems it supports.
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