Building applications is much more than just writing code. There are many languages out there, not to mention frameworks, architectures and interfaces. Today’s developers need a tool to simplify and accelerate the workflow but at the same time keep the freedom to innovate with their choice of tools and app stacks. And this is what an open-source platform for building, deploying and managing containerized applications – Docker – has been created for.
Building applications is much more than just writing code. There are many languages out there, not to mention frameworks, architectures and interfaces. Today’s developers need a tool to simplify and accelerate the workflow but at the same time keep the freedom to innovate with their choice of tools and app stacks. And this is what an open-source platform for building, deploying and managing containerized applications – Docker – has been created for.
What is Docker?
Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping and running applications. Thanks to it, you can separate your apps from your infrastructure so that the whole process of software development is much quicker. Docker is a containerization platform that enables you to package apps into containers to run the code in any environment. This way, the delay between writing code and running it in production can be significantly reduced.
How Docker works
Docker is for fast, consistent delivery of your applications. It packages, provisions and runs containers. It streamlines the development lifecycle – it allows developers to work in standardized environments using local containers which provide applications and services. Container technology is available through the operating system and each container shares the services of one underlying operating system. Docker images contain all the dependencies that are necessary to execute code inside a container so that containers that move between different environments with the same operating system work with no changes. Docker is a great alternative to hypervisor-based virtual machines. It is just perfect for high-density environments, as well as for small and medium deployments.
Why use Docker
Docker is extremely useful for developers who need a lightweight, clean environment for testing but don’t need all those sophisticated orchestrations. If you want to get started with containers, Docker is definitely your way to go. It enhanced the native Linux containerization capabilities. This, in consequence, improved portability and made it much more seamless. Docker makes it easy and automated to create, version and reuse containers. The key advantages of Docker are the following:
- Docker makes it easy to introduce new developers to the project – all manuals and installation & configuration steps are done automatically inside the Docker container.
- Docker helps to cut down development costs.
- Docker makes your app behave in a relatively predictable way in all environments.
- With Docker, you can host your app wherever you want with no vendor locking – you have full flexibility on the hosting technology and provider.
- You can scale your app or website in a flexible way – Docker containers can be launched in many copies to handle the growing number of users.
Want to know more on Docker? See Docker Deep Dive ebook.
