Docker for Development - Why Use Docker for Development?
Traditionally we use devbox , a virtual machine outfit , for development work . It creates lot of problems while working on a laptop. But the use of Docker can easily avoid those. There are many reasons that a developer use Docker for development. Some of them are discussed below
1. To start with, the only dependencies that a developer needs to install on the laptop are Docker and Docker compose. Dockerfile and docker-compose.ym1 is there under version control.
That means a dev environment can be built in minutes without much human intervention.
2. Any manual process i, e a VMS movement may face a failure anytime, only nobody knows when it will happen. It is mostly advised to use containers in development and production to engage with the environmental parameters.
3. Local host or the local filesystem provides a shortcut to avoid problems that one may encounter in production, where mistakes may cause more damage in solving the problem.Considering a slew of limitations in the work process, better architectural decisions should be figured at the beginning. Components need to be created to live isolated, and should not allow being bundled together into one machine. Thereby, it will make a cosy ambience for explicit and configurable communication among the components.
4. Since the developers in a team move with the same OS, the same system libraries, and the same language runtime irrespective of any host OS, it helps to maintain a consistent development environment.
5. Docker offers to work in the same development environment exactly as the production environment. The guiding principle is to deploy and just work.
6. Docker says that it is not necessary to install a bunch of language environments in the machine during the development. It is possible to run a Ruby script in a Ruby Docker image without having Ruby installed.
7. It allows multiple language versions to operate without resorting to all the hack rounds for a specific language such as python, ruby, Java, node etc. For example, it is possible to run a Python program in Python 3 with the help of Python 3 image whereas only Python 2 is installed in the machine. Likewise, a Java program with Java 1.6 is operable with Java 1.6 Docker image where Java 1.7 is installed on the machine.
8. Docker offers an easy deployment whether it runs in a container or in a server. The developer deploys the packaged code or injects a new Docker image with code in a server with the same image and then he just runs that new image.
9. It allows working with editor/IDE as usual. You can also build on a Linux box ignoring VM in Virtual Box.
Conclusion
No one can deny the fact that Docker has brought much more comfort in developers' life. It is time-saving, less time consuming for debugging and easier as well as faster in deployment, Moreover, It observes clearer paths to cut the applications in a smaller size. It also offers a cheap integration price. It encourages less documentation since it is mostly automated.
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