AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM)

AWS SAM is a framework for building Serverless applications on AWS, it uses concise declarative code templates to define and interconnect resources such as functions, tables, state machines, and more. SAM is composed of a template specification based on CloudFormation and a CLI tool for managing application lifecycle:

• SAM Template specification provides a set of easy-to-use building blocks which represent serverless resources and that enables short and clean declarative code. We also have access to all the CloudFormation features in your SAM templates.
  
• SAM CLI is a tool for managing the application lifecycle with intuitive commands (build / package / deploy) that generate complete CloudFormation templates. It also manages stacks and changesets so your development team does not have to handle long complex infrastructure code. It also offers a utility for local development and debugging.

The following are some AWS SAM’s advantages:

• One tool for the entire serverless application lifecycle: the SAM CLI is incredibly powerful allowing developers to develop their functions and APIs locally before deploying seamlessly into the different environments. This follows best practices and effortlessly integrates with CI/CD tools.
• Specification extending CloudFormation: AWS SAM is built on top of CloudFormation which allows building AWS infrastructure using declarative code templates and offers many features like intrinsic functions, parameters, changesets, and more. SAM further simplifies infrastructure management with a clean concise syntax.