To get the most out of this book
No development knowledge is required to understand this book. The only languages you will see are declarative languages such as JSON or YAML. In addition to this, no specific IDE is required. If you do not have one, you can use Visual Studio Code, which is free and cross-platform. It is available here: https://code.visualstudio.com/.
The cloud provider that serves as an example in this book is Microsoft Azure. If you don't have a subscription, you can create a free account here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/.
As regards the operating systems you will need, there are no real prerequisites. Most of the tools we will use are cross-platform and compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS. Their installations will be detailed in their respective chapters.
If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book's GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.
