Container platforms seem to be the fuel driving the next wave of app development. Docker didn’t invent the concept, but Docker’s meteoric rise made container technology mainstream. Don’t worry if you’re still not quite sure what Docker is or how to use it—O’Reilly Media has you covered with its Introduction to Docker video training course.
Catch the Docker wave
If you aren’t already on the Docker bandwagon you’re a little behind the curve at this point. Docker breaks down barriers and enables developers to deploy apps more effectively and efficiently with less effort than traditional application development and deployment technologies. Docker lets you build an app in any language, and run it on any platform that supports Docker containers.
At this point there aren’t many platforms that don’t support Docker. It has quickly become the de facto standard for container technologies. Microsoft has its own Windows Server Containers and recently introduced more secure Hyper-V Containers, but it also partnered with Docker to bring Docker containers to Azure, and it is working with Docker to integrate native support for Docker in the next release of Windows Server.
In a nutshell, Docker is here to stay. If you’re developing and deploying apps its imperative that you know what Docker is and how to use it or you may get left in the dust.
Learning Docker
The Docker video training is presented by Andrew Tork Baker. Baker is an independent consultant based in Washington, DC and is a respected resource when it comes to Docker containers. He also goes by the handle “atbaker” and wrote spin-docker—a lightweight open-source Platform-as-a-Service powered by Docker and Flask.
The entire training session is one hour and 46 minutes and costs $60 to download or stream from O’Reilly. You can watch the first three segments—about 10 minutes worth of content—for free to get a feel for the scope and quality before deciding whether or not to purchase the training.
The video quality is adequate. Baker speaks a tad fast in parts—probably an effort to prevent the training from running too long or becoming boring. Overall, though, he speaks clearly and presents the materials in a way most people should be able to comprehend. That said, it’s an introductory course so don’t go into this planning on being a Docker guru in a couple hours.
Baker covers a range of topics in the course. He starts from an overview of what Docker is (and isn’t) and how to set up your Docker development environment (both of those segments are part of the free preview), and then moves on to basic Docker concepts, working with containers, and finally to more advanced areas like Dockerfiles and how to deploy a Docker app to the cloud. The training concludes with recommendations for additional resources to continue diving deeper and learning more about Docker.
There are only a handful of reviews for the Introduction to Docker video training course so far, but they’re all positive. So far it has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, and all of the reviewers would recommend the training to a friend. The reviews do stress that it’s an introductory course, though—just enough to give you a basic understanding.
If you’re new to Docker or container technologies and want to get a grasp on the basics this is probably a good investment of $60 and two hours of your life.
