Azure AZ-900 vs AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner - which is better?

 Azure vs AWS

As of 2023, Amazon Web Services(AWS) is still top leader in the Cloud Market.

You will find more infographics at Statista

However, Microsoft Azure's share is increasing year by year and is steadily chasing AWS (See: Quarterly Cloud Market Once Again Grows by $10 Billion from 2022; Meanwhile, Little Change at the Top - Synergy Research Group).

In such a situation, it is difficult to answer clearly which cloud skill, AWS or Azure, is better to learn. Since AWS will continue to be the leader for the time being, it is important to get AWS skills. However, we should not overlook Azure’s growth, and it is essential to be proficient in Azure, especially in the upcoming AI era.

If you are thinking of acquiring cloud skills from now on, I recommend that you should obtain both AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and Azure AZ-900 as cloud qualifications.

As for myself, after passing the AZ-900 exam, I immediately began preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam and successfully passed it about two months later.

The mechanisms and service menus of cloud services are similar, and there are even identical concepts and terms, such as "Availability Zone" (Microsoft followed Amazon in this case).

Additionally, Microsoft provides a service comparison article between Azure and AWS. It helps you understand how Microsoft Azure services compare to AWS.

How to learn

If you have even a bit of background in computer science, there's no need to invest in paid books or learning services. Free resources available on the web, along with the content provided by Microsoft and Amazon, are more than sufficient.

Microsoft offers a practice exam for AZ-900 on Microsoft Learn. Number of questions is sufficient, aim for an accuracy rate of 80% or higher in this practice exams.

Dual Wii Nunchuck

I made a Arduino sketch for controlling two Wii nunchucks almost four years ago. Even now It's video uploaded in YouTube still gets a little view count. Recently, I received a requirment of this sketch to show its schematic. So I upload it here.

If you want to make same sketch, you need a Toshiba's CMOS logic IC TC4066BP. You can download its software (for Arduino and PC) from GitHub.

Minecraft with Wii nunchuck

Do you want to play Minecraft with Wii nunchuck?

I (and maybe many people) expected that Minecraft:  Xbox 360 edition supports Microsoft Kinect but my guess was wrong. Calmly thinking of using Kinect for Minecraft, it would very difficult for provide stress-free, confortable interaction. We still have a chance for update but this was one reason why I made this sketch. Playing Minecraft by using gestures would be fun, I thought.

Thanks to Nintendo's backward compatibility policy, Wii nunchuck controller is not obsolute yet in spite of launching Wii U. We can buy it easily.

Wii nunchuck was hacked around 2009. I2C is it's communication protocol and you can see it's data format from Windmeadow Labs website.

Read wii nunchuck data into arduino - Windmeadow Labs

I made some sketches about it around 2009. I reused and modified it for the first time in a while.

This time, I used Arduino Leonard. Differs from other Arudinos such as Arduino UNO, it can behave as a HID keyboard and mouse. The Leonard receives status values of two buttons, 2-axis joystick and 3-axis accelerometer from Wii nunchuck.  These values are translated to keyboard and mouse events for playing Minecraft, and these events are sent to the connected PC.

Connecting Arduino and Wii nunchuck

To hook up a Wii nunchuck to Arduino, using "WiiChuck Adapter" is one of the easiest way to do it. You can buy this small PCB from Sparkfun Electronics or some other online electric parts shops. I simply cut my universal PCB and made my own WiiChuck Adapter clone. The look of this is not good but this works perfectly.

All you need is to hook up 4 pins (GND, 3.3V, D2, D3).

D2 : SDA (serial data)
D3 : SCL (serial clock)

Arduino Leonard has independent pins SCL and SDA. You may use these pins.

Software

WiiChuck class encapslates Wii nunchuck's I2C communication through wire library.  You can download it from Arduino Playground.

Arduino Playground - WiiChuck Class

I added a few methods for convenience. My all source code is here.

How to play

Wii nunchuck	Keyboard & Mouse	Action
Roll/Tilt	Mouse move	Look around the world
Joystick	[W],[A],[S],[D]	Move forward/backward/left/right
Joystick (a little press)	[W],[A],[S],[D] + Left shift	Crouching/sneaking move
Shake Wii nunchuck	Mouse left click	Break down/mine blocks
C + Shake Wii nunchuck	[Q]	Drop a held item
C	Mouse right click	Place the resource
Z	Space	Jump
C + Roll joystick	Mouse wheel	Select the held item from your inventory hot bar
C + Z	[E]	Open/close your inventory window
C + Z + Joystick down (hold 3secs)	-	(Special command) Grab/Release control

To break down blocks, you need to keep shaking your Wii nunchuck. This gesture is equivalent to click and hold the left mouse button. It enables you feel as if you were a real Minecraft character. You can also dash by double clicking your Wii nunchuck's joystick.

Grab/release control is Wii nunchuck control "ON/OFF". It's for safety measure to prevent from unintended keyboard and mouse emulation.

You can watch how it works from this YouTube video:


Still a little bit awkward especially Joystick rolling and tilting response but it's enjoyable and you can even eat popcorn while playing!