Docker

Abstract

Docker is a way to isolate a process from the system on which it is running. It allows us to isolate the code written to define an application and the resources required to run that application from the hardware on which it runs. We add a layer of complexity to our software, but in doing so gain the advantage of ensuring that our local development environment will be identical to any possible environment into which we would deploy the application. If a system can run Docker, a system can run our process. With the addition of a thin layer of abstraction we become hardware independent. On its face, this would seem to be an impossible task. As of 2014, there were 285 actively maintained Linux distributions and multiple major versions of both OS X and Windows. How could we possibly write a system to allow for all possible development, testing, and production environments?