AzureFunBytes Episode 65 - @Azure Durable Functions For Automation With @LBugnion

00:00:00 - Opening
00:01:19 - Azure Functions Trailer
00:04:03 - Welcome to the show Laurent
00:08:39 - The always important, "So how'd you get here?" question
00:14:10 - Introduction to Azure Functions
00:16:17 - Web API with Azure Functions
00:19:11 - More use cases
00:21:25 - How did Laurent use Durable Functions?
00:26:41 - Supported languages
00:29:30 - Visual Studio 2022 and Azure Durable Functions
00:48:00 - Creating a new Azure Functions Project with VSCode
00:52:53 - Laurent and I chat a bit about heavy metal! 🤘

This week on AzureFunBytes we're diving back into serverless technology by discussing how to write stateful functions! Azure Durable Functions is an extension of Azure Functions that lets you define stateful workflows with what is known as "orchestrator functions." You can create these stateful entities by writing entity functions using the Azure Functions programming model.

When working on Azure, and especially when it comes to automating processes, Azure Functions (aka serverless functions) are very useful. But they also have some limitations. Functions are an extension of Azure Functions that overcome some of the serverless limitations. With Durable Functions, you can run long processes, execute multiple instances of functions in parallel, and more.

Durable Functions scale based on need which keeps costs under control when implementing complex workflows on Azure. Some of the key features of Durable Functions include:

- Using event driven code.
- Chaining functions together
- Orchestration and coordination of functions, including the order of execution.
- State is managed for you so you don't have to write code to save state information for long-running functions.

Work on creating your code and not managing the infrastructure required. Let the Durable Functions framework take care of activity monitoring, synchronization, and runtime concerns. You can also use many of the popular programming languages you are already familiar with.

Our agenda includes:

- Functions are awesome when combined with automation triggers
- Some of the limitations can be overcome by using durable functions
- If you do something twice, it's worth automating. In our case, we avoid a lot of copy-paste.

Useful Docs: