When I first started building modern cloud apps years ago, I struggled with the idea of event-driven architectures. I came from a background of client/server applications where every API call waited until the server was done processing. I was totally entrenched and familiar with the request/response workflow.

Then serverless services made their way into the picture and my world turned upside down. How the heck do you notify a caller when an asynchronous process completed? What do you do when something fails? What on earth is a topic?!

If this sounds anything like you, don’t worry—it gets easier. You get comfortable with these new concepts and start building out patterns that feel synchronous to customers. Plus, the services that power event-driven architectures keep getting simpler, faster, and easier to use.

Like Momento Topics. Our brand new serverless event messaging service. This new offering simplifies pub/sub (publish and subscribe) workflows with only two API calls: publish and subscribe.

To help show you how easy it is to introduce events into your architecture, I updated Momento’s game, Acorn Hunt, and recorded the super cool demo below. Check it out.

Key Takeaways

• All subscribers to a topic must have a stateful connection (meaning they cannot be used in Lambda).
• Publishers do not require a stateful connection (meaning they can be used in Lambda).
• You can publish to any topic without needing to create it first.
• Currently supports server-side events; it does not connect to a browser.
• Priced at $0.50/GB of data transfer.

Want to try out topics yourself? You can get started immediately with our in-browser demo or build something new with our Node.js and Go SDKs.

Allen Helton

Author

Allen is an Ecosystem Engineer at Momento. He comes from over a decade of experience working in the public sector tech industry where he played a key role in advancing the adoption of modern technology in the space. Allen drives API-first development and pushes for best-in-class developer experience for customers. When he’s not talking about serverless, you can find Allen tending to his homestead. Between feeding the chickens, working in the garden, or building fences, Allen is always outside learning something new and teaching his kids some lessons along the way.