What definition does the platform as a service (PaaS) give, and what are its main advantages?

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides developers with a ready-to-use platform for creating, deploying, and managing applications without the need to worry about infrastructure (servers, networks, operating systems).

Main advantages of PaaS:

• Accelerates development through ready-made tools and services.
• Automatic scaling and infrastructure management.
• Reduces costs for support and administration.
• Allows focusing on the application's business logic rather than technical infrastructure details.

Examples of popular PaaS: Heroku, Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure App Service.