One of the things that I am most grateful for about being a software engineer in 2019, is the incredible breadth of SDKs, platforms, and tools that simplify the more complicated and often consistently repetitive tasks. Whether I am implementing a live commenting feature, adding charts to my UI, or deploying my finished product, there is a resource out there to save me from doing it from scratch. In this post, we are going to cover one of today’s most talked about, most used, and most important SDKs: Google’s Firebase.
What is Firebase?
For starters, Firebase is actually a collection of various products that all fall under the Firebase family. In Google’s own words, Firebase as a whole is described as the following:
Firebase gives you the tools to develop high-quality apps, grow your user base, and earn more money. We cover the essentials so you can monetize your business and focus on your users.
At the time of this article, Firebase is comprised of a total of 18 different products, in addition to 9 extensions. The products in this suite solve problems as simple as shortening URLs, and as complex as cloud messaging. The full list of products and extensions is below with links, for reference, and we will cover several of the most popular products in depth.
