This document provides an introduction to microservices, including: - The origin and definitions of microservices as a specialized implementation of SOA using independent, lightweight services. - The advantages of microservices include ease of deployment, scalability, and allowing different services to use different technologies. - Microservices address issues with monolithic architectures like fault tolerance and deployment challenges due to tight coupling. - Key aspects of microservices include developing each as an independent service with a clear purpose, using inter-service communication, and allowing autonomous scaling of individual services.