Member-only storyTeddy MorinFollowBetter Programming--ShareMaybe you heard about Docker but didn’t fully understand its goal and inner functioning. On the other hand, clearly understanding Docker is necessary to not waste your time and resources.In this article, I give you the necessary knowledge to start efficiently with Docker and resources to look at in the future, but you need practice to get there.From the Docker documentation, we learn:Docker provides the ability to package and run an application in a loosely isolated environment called a container.That’s a great definition of what Docker is, but if you’re just getting started, it might not be easy to understand. Instead, I would like to describe Docker (and containers) in opposition to virtual machines.Maybe you worked with virtual machines in the past, and they are easier to approach.They can be seen as software that simulates (or virtualizes) a separate environment on a host machine. For virtual machines, it’s possible to interact with physical components (almost) directly and allocate dedicated processors or memory, for example.To be more precise, virtual machines use a piece of software called hypervisor to interact with the physical part of your computer.In the end, it allows you to simulate a complete operating system, separated from everything else. On the other hand, it makes it heavy by nature, as it simulates a complete environment, using a hypervisor (even though lightweight).A container (of which Docker is a provider, but there are alternatives) is slightly different. It achieves the same goal of virtualization but with another strategy.Instead of building a complete virtual machine, a container can be seen as a package containing everything your system needs to work. That often includes a light operating system, runtime libraries, and your code.----Better ProgrammingAuthor of scalablebackend.com 🚀 React, React Native, NodeJS, TypeScript | Quality, Scaling, DeliveryTeddy MorininGeek Culture--Benoit RuizinBetter Programming--200VinitainBetter Programming--30Teddy MorininLevel Up Coding--Mirza LekainITNEXT--4Mariia Romaniuk--5Sandeep Singh (Full Stack Dev.)--Allen HeltoninBetter Programming--8Coding BeautyinCoding Beauty--23Pen MagnetinLevel Up Coding--28HelpStatusWritersBlogCareersPrivacyTermsAboutText to speechTeams