The Reactive Programming Problem
Difficulty in building reactive applications with traditional serverless functions
Most applications need to respond to events: files uploaded to storage, messages arriving in queues, data changes triggering downstream processing. Traditional serverless platforms leave you with limited options—polling APIs on timers, setting up complex webhook systems, or building custom event routing infrastructure.
Polling wastes resources and creates delays. Webhooks require managing external endpoints and handling failures. Custom event systems add operational complexity that defeats the purpose of going serverless in the first place.
Introducing Raindrop Observers
Observers in Raindrop are powerful components that let you execute code in response to changes in your resources automatically. Think of them as event listeners that trigger when specific conditions are met in your application—no polling, no complex setup, just clean reactive code.
Raindrop Observers event listening reactive capabilites with clean code
Observers are the second pillar in Raindrop’s approach to modern serverless development:
Services (Part 1): Efficient serverless functions with built-in communication
Observers (this post): React to changes and events automatically
Actors (Part 3): Maintain state and coordinate complex workflows
Let’s dive into how Observers can be used to make your life easier.
The blog for Observers : https://liquidmetal.ai/casesAndBlogs/observers/
The Reactive Programming Problem Difficulty in building reactive applications with traditional serverless functions Most applications need to respond to events: files uploaded to storage, messages arriving in queues, data changes triggering downstream processing. Traditional serverless platforms leave you with limited options—polling APIs on timers, setting up complex webhook systems, or building custom event routing infrastructure.
Polling wastes resources and creates delays. Webhooks require managing external endpoints and handling failures. Custom event systems add operational complexity that defeats the purpose of going serverless in the first place.
Introducing Raindrop Observers Observers in Raindrop are powerful components that let you execute code in response to changes in your resources automatically. Think of them as event listeners that trigger when specific conditions are met in your application—no polling, no complex setup, just clean reactive code.
Raindrop Observers event listening reactive capabilites with clean code Observers are the second pillar in Raindrop’s approach to modern serverless development:
Services (Part 1): Efficient serverless functions with built-in communication Observers (this post): React to changes and events automatically Actors (Part 3): Maintain state and coordinate complex workflows Let’s dive into how Observers can be used to make your life easier.