This chapter introduces the core Lambda function model, including handlers, stateless execution, configuration, and environment management. You'll learn how Lambda executes code, how to configure functions for optimal performance, and how to write and test Lambda code locally.

Understanding Lambda's execution model

Creating your first Lambda function

The handler function

Check your understanding: Lambda's execution model

Configuring Lambda functions

Cold starts and initialization

Tuning memory and timeout

Check your understanding: configuration vs code

Writing and testing Lambda code

Writing a handler that reads input

Check your understanding: testing and debugging

Testing edge cases and reading logs

Foundations of Lambda Function Development

This chapter covers how Lambda processes events, handles retries and failures, and connects to private resources. You'll learn the difference between synchronous and asynchronous invocations, how event source mappings batch records from queues and streams, and how to route outcomes with DLQs and destinations. You'll also see how VPC networking impacts connectivity and cold-start performance.

Event-driven architecture essentials

Exploring sync and async invocation logs

Analyzing event payload structures

Check your understanding: invocation types

Event source mappings and stream processing

Monitoring event source mapping behavior

Analyzing batch processing metrics

Check your understanding: batching and scaling

Retries, DLQs, and Lambda destinations

Investigating retry patterns in CloudWatch

Tracing event destination routing

Check your understanding: DLQs vs destinations

Accessing private resources in a VPC

Setting up a VPC for private connectivity

Examining elastic network interfaces

Analyzing route tables for outbound access

Event Processing, Error Handling & Connectivity

This chapter teaches how to integrate Lambda with other AWS services and tune functions for reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency. You'll learn how to use the AWS SDK safely with least-privilege permissions, how concurrency settings protect downstream systems, how to reduce cold-start and runtime latency, and how to deploy safely with versions, aliases, and traffic shifting.

Integrating Lambda with AWS services

Using the AWS SDK in a Lambda handler

Least-privilege IAM for SDK calls

Check your understanding: triggers vs SDK calls

Scaling and concurrency controls

Reserved concurrency and throttling

Choosing the right concurrency control

Check your understanding: estimating concurrency

Performance tuning and optimization techniques

Connection reuse across invocations

Memory, CPU, and cost trade-offs

Check your understanding: init vs handler work

Versions, aliases, and traffic shifting

Publishing Lambda versions

Creating an alias as a stable pointer

Weighted routing for canary deploys

Integrations, Scaling & Performance Optimization

Learn to build, configure, and operate serverless applications with AWS Lambda. Starting from the execution model and handler contract, you progress through event-driven architectures, error handling with retries, DLQs and destinations, VPC connectivity, AWS SDK integrations, concurrency controls, performance tuning, and safe deployment strategies using versions, aliases, and traffic shifting. Every concept is reinforced with hands-on exercises in a live AWS Console.

Introduction to Python

Intermediate Python

Introduction to AWS Boto in Python

Build, deploy, and optimize serverless apps with AWS Lambda. Master event processing, error handling, concurrency, and safe deployments in a live AWS Console.

Serverless Applications with AWS Lambda

Senior DevOps Engineer

Recap: one Lambda mental model

Events are messages

Common event sources in AWS

Synchronous vs asynchronous invocation

Who sees the error?

Payloads are contracts

Example payload: SQS message event

Walkthrough: iterate through Records

Walkthrough: parse JSON body safely

Defensive parsing checklist

Design for retries and duplicates

Idempotency in practice

Key takeaways

Let's practice!

Event Processing, Error Handling & Connectivity - Event-driven architecture essentials

Event-driven architecture essentials

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