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What Is Docker? A Guide to Containers & CI/CD

Docker definition from the official website: 'Accelerate how you build, share, and run applications. Docker helps developers build, share, run, and verify applications anywhere — without tedious environment configuration or management.
Docker definition from the official website

Docker is a platform designed to make it easier to build, share, and run applications in isolated environments called containers. These containers ensure that software runs uniformly and predictably, regardless of the underlying infrastructure.

Integrating Docker into a development workflow offers many advantages for building, testing, and deploying applications.

  • Consistent Environments: By bundling dependencies within a container, Docker eliminates inconsistencies between development, staging, and production setups.
  • Service Isolation: Each container runs in its own isolated environment, preventing conflicts between services and enhancing security.
  • Simplified CI/CD: Docker streamlines continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. New code can be automatically built into an image, tested in a container, and deployed to production with confidence.
  • Multi-Container Applications: For complex systems with multiple services (e.g., a web server, database, and caching layer), Docker Compose allows you to define and run the entire application stack with a single command.

This section provides core Docker concepts, commands, and best practices.