What is Docker, its main advantages and when to use it in software development?

Written by LogAp

Monday, Sep
5
2022

Do you know what Docker is and why this tool has become so popular in recent years?

The world of technology has evolved rapidly and brought important innovations to the market. The popularization of front-end frameworks and the concern with interface design, for example, are changes that were unheard of up to a few years ago.

The same holds true for Docker: a technology developed by the company originally known as dotCloud, Inc (now Docker, Inc) to facilitate the process of virtualizing environments.

With the above brief, Docker managed to attract the attention of the market by offering an extremely useful tool for developers and DevOps, which allowed more productivity in the creation of systems, among other advantages as a whole.

Want to know what Docker is, its main advantages and when to use it in software development? Keep reading to understand more about one of the most popular topics of recent years.

Enjoy!

So, what is Docker?

Docker is an open-source platform that makes it easy to create isolated environments during software development. This is important for application infrastructure management, from creation up to the service modification stages.

In practice, Docker acts as a “virtual machine” that runs software within another operating system. If you’ve already played with VMware or VirtualBox to run other applications, the mechanics of Docker are very similar.

The big difference —and advantage— of Docker is being able to run its containers with less resource expense, as well as security features that have made its technology very popular today.

To understand more about containers, check out the video below that explains the term:

Containers – Explained in 4 Minutes

Important: Despite acting as a virtual machine, Docker has a different architecture and therefore operates differently. In Docker, there is no need to load an O.S., so the virtual machine example was used only for illustrative purposes.

Docker’s Key Advantages

Now that you understand briefly what Docker is, let’s look at the main features (and advantages) of the tool:

Speed: Because it doesn’t depend on a dedicated operating system to work, Docker can start and run within a few seconds;
Economy: Thanks to the feature mentioned above, Docker also consumes little memory and, in general, other host resources;
Security: Docker containers work independently and in isolation, which increases the security level of the tool.

However, the three items above are not the only advantages. There are other important reasons that make its technology shine—and that you need to experiment with in practice to get to know better.

Therefore, in summary, running applications in Docker allows the creation of controlled environments to extract the most from software development, regardless of the size of the system created.

When to use Docker in software development?

In general, Docker can be used at any time in software development, as it is not only the developers who benefit, but also the teams that take care of the company’s technological infrastructure.

This means that Docker helps strengthen the relationship between teams, who can then work optimally and securely when building systems. Thus, DevOps can create specific environments on servers, which can be shared with devs without too much difficulty.

This way, Docker eliminates many dependencies and rework issues, and makes it possible to standardize environments for all enterprise developers. In short: Docker sets a solid standard for creating both simple or complex systems.

Therefore, the answer is quite simple: Docker can be used at any time in the company, because it brings important benefits to the technology team, especially in their productivity and quality when creating code.

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