This book attempts to present a state-of-the-art view of “software engineering in the era of cloud computing.” The claimed audience includes researchers, practitioners, and students. The title is ambiguous; it could mean how to use software engineering for designing cloud systems, or how to use cloud functions as tools to build software. Looking at the included chapters, it becomes clear that both meanings apply. However, this reduces the book’s potential audience--researchers or practitioners interested in one of these aspects are probably not interested in the other. It also considerably reduces the book’s potential as a textbook.

The book contains 13 chapters, written by 33 authors and grouped into three parts, where these two interests are mixed up. Redundancy, a typical defect of this kind of book, is also present here: some chapters talk about similar subjects, but make no attempt to relate their topics to each other. For example, three chapters on requirements are not related in any way. Most chapters are not very informative for their expected audience; they are structured as collections of short sections, lists, and high-level processes, with no examples or any indication that their proposals have been validated.

The more likely readers of this book are researchers looking for ideas and a state-of-the-art perspective. I found a chapter on design patterns useful, but little else. For students or practitioners, the book has limited use; however, a few chapters are decent introductions to some subjects. There is only one chapter on DevOps, which is surprising for a book about software for clouds. Because of its lack of coherence and redundancies, this book is not appropriate for teaching.