# Introduction

The **Cloud Computing Platform (CCP)** is a service designed to offer on-demand and scalable access to computing resources, including processing environments, storage, and configurable execution workflows.

It allows users to execute, re-execute, demonstrate, and share scientific methods — such as algorithms, scripts, or entire computational pipelines — without the need to manage physical infrastructure or handle software dependencies.  
This is achieved while abstracting away technical implementation details, enabling a focus on scientific reproducibility and collaboration.

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## Key Benefits

CCP provides the following advantages:

- **Faster time-to-science**: Accelerated development and execution through rapid deployment
- **Scalability and flexibility**: Dynamic adaptation of computational resources based on workload and context
- **Improved collaboration**: Shared access to methods, data, and results across distributed teams
- **Increased productivity**: Researchers can focus on scientific goals without infrastructure concerns
- **High performance**: Reliable and responsive execution environments with minimal latency
- **Disaster recovery**: Easy restoration of executions and applications in case of failure
- **Technological competitiveness**: Immediate access to modern tools and technologies

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## Technological Foundations

CCP builds upon the experience of the **DataMiner** initiative ([D4Science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D4Science)) and reflects a complete redesign of that model.

It introduces a modern execution paradigm based on:

- **Containerization**: Isolation and portability of execution environments
- **RESTful APIs**: Programmatic access and integration capabilities
- **JSON-based configuration**: Declarative method definitions and input parameterization

This architecture embraces recent trends in ICT — including microservices, composability, and service orchestration — to support interoperability and efficient reuse of computational assets.

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## Documentation Overview

This documentation is structured into thematic sections:

- **Quickstart**: Introductory walkthroughs to CCP and its interface
- **User Guides**: Practical usage scenarios and best practices
- **Method Development**: Guidelines for defining and publishing custom methods
- **Execution Details**: Information about generated metadata and output structure
- **Architecture**: Conceptual and technical design foundations
- **REST API**: Reference documentation for interacting with CCP programmatically

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To begin exploring the platform, continue to the 🚀 [Quickstart section](./01_quickstart/00_getting_started)