Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#1

Post by shivajikobardan » Thu, May 28, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

Have been taking the analogy of Electricity. You do not produce electricity on your own but take service from the electricity provider(maybe government or private players).

I am totally bored myself o this analogy. As I have repeated this in many classes. I want to provide some other analogy. What could I provide?

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#2

Post by PaulHoule » Thu, May 28, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

In my mind it is about access to a high performance network inside the data center and to the rest of the world as much or more that I can rent a machine there.

I'd also say there are a lot of cases where we only need intermittent service, like why pay for a whole server to sit there to serve 100 requests which could be handled by a simple Lambda function?

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#3

Post by maryamshafaqat » Thu, May 28, 2026, 3:18 PM UTC

A good one I have used is the roads and transport idea. You do not build roads to travel you just use shared infrastructure when you need it same way cloud works.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#4

Post by phendrenad2 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

Maybe they can handle a direct explanation. How many of you have a phone? How many of you use a laptop? The laptop overheats sometimes, huh? But it can do more? Well, server farms have air conditioning to let them heat up, but you can do even more. Like AI, ChatGPT Claude Gemini you know? Those fake videos you see all over tiktok?

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#5

Post by dj_studocai » Thu, May 28, 2026, 3:58 PM UTC

You can check the Interest Lens feature on studocai.com , it will help you built different analogies on the basis of interest.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#6

Post by __patchbit__ » Thu, May 28, 2026, 3:58 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

In my mind it is about access to a high performance network inside the data center and to the rest of the world as much or more that I can rent a machine there. I'd also say there are a lot of cases where we only need intermittent service, like why pay for a whole server to sit there to serve 100 requests which could be handled by a simple Lambda function?

Emphasis on waveform concepts that make sense in the context of cloud computing and quantum computing give students a fork in the road to specialization for them to decide on their distant future.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#7

Post by late_night_fix » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

A library analogy could work too,borrow resources when needed.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#8

Post by PaulHoule » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

__patchbit__ wrote: post #6

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

In my mind it is about access to a high performance network inside the data center and to the rest of the world as much or more that I can rent a machine there. I'd also say there are a lot of cases where we only need intermittent service, like why pay for a whole server to sit there to serve 100 requests which could be handled by a simple Lambda function?

Emphasis on waveform concepts that make sense in the context of cloud computing and quantum computing give students a fork in the road to specialization for them to decide on their distant future.

Well I was involved with quantum computing back when you’d talk to the top people in the field and they would tell you they didn’t have any money for postdocs and I think the future for quantum computing is about as promising for a young person as it was then.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#9

Post by bicepjai » Thu, May 28, 2026, 9:38 PM UTC

Slightly off-topic, but my personal take: instead of analogies for students, I wish we were teaching public servants that the same money poured into centralized data centers could fund good networking infrastructure nationwide, turning every home into a node in the country’s cloud. Decentralized by default, instead of renting capacity back from a handful of providers.

Re: Ask HN: How to introduce cloud computing to high schoolers?

#10

Post by animeshz916 » Fri, May 29, 2026, 5:49 AM UTC

bicepjai wrote: post #9

Slightly off-topic, but my personal take: instead of analogies for students, I wish we were teaching public servants that the same money poured into centralized data centers could fund good networking infrastructure nationwide, turning every home into a node in the country’s cloud. Decentralized by default, instead of renting capacity back from a handful of providers.

I run my own mini-server kind of thing, by putting TrueNAS into a 2nd hand bought thinkpad. Works pretty well, just gotta put tailscale to make it accessible from anywhere even under a NAT. Add pihole(as dns) and nginx(reverse-proxy) for allowing free local domain names by masking original ones using your own personal dns.