Introduction to Firebase

• Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform developed by Firebase, Inc. in 2011.
• Firebase evolved from Envolve, a prior startup founded by James Tamplin and Andrew Lee in 2011.
• Envolve provided developers an API that enables the integration of online chat functionality into their websites.
• After releasing the chat service, Tamplin and lee founded that it was being used to pass application data that weren’t chat message.
• Developers were using Envolve to sync application data such as game state in real time across their users.
• Tamplin and Lee decided to separate the chat system and real -time architecture that powered it.
• They founded Firebase as a separate company in 2012.
• In october 2014, Firebase was acquired by Google.
• In october 2015, Google acquired Divshot to merge it with the Firebase team.
• Since the acquasition, Firebase has grown inside google and expanded their services to become a unified platform for mobile developers.

Services provided by Firebase:-

1. Realtime Database:-

• Firebase provides a realtime database and backend as a service.
• The service provides application developers an API that allows application data to be synchronized across clients and stored on Firebase’s cloud.
• The company provides client libraries that enable integration with Android, iOS, JavaScript,Java,Objective -c ,Swift and node.js Applications.
• The database is also accessible through a REST API and bindings for several Javascript frameworks such as Angular, React, Ember.js and Backbone.js.
• Cloud Firestore which is Firebase’s next generation of the Realtime Database was released for beta use.

2. Authentication:-

• Firebase Authentication provides backend services, easy-to-use SDK’s, and ready-made UI libraries to authenticate users to your app.
• You can authenticate your app’s users through the following methods:- Email and password, Phone Numbers, Google, Facebook, twitter,etc
• Using firebase authentication makes building secure authentication systems easier, while also improving the sign-in and onboarding experience for end users.

3. Firebase Cloud Messaging:-

• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)provides a reliable and battery-efficient connection between your server and devices that allows you to deliver and receive messages and notifications on iOS, Android and the web at no cost.

4. Firebase Storage:-

• Firebase Storage provides secure file uploads and downloads for Firebase Apps, regardless of network quality.
• The developer can use it to store images, audio, video or other user-generated content.
• Firebase storage is backed by Google Cloud Storage
• Firebase Hosting.
• Firebase Hosting is a static and dynamic web hosting service that launched on May 13,2014.
• It supports hosting static files such as CSS,HTML, Javascript and other files as well as dynamic Node.js support through Cloud Functions.
• The service delivers files over a content delivery network (CDN) through HTTP Secure (HTTPS) and Secure Sockets Layer Encryption(SSL).

In Angular Application development we can use all the above services provided by firebase.