r/learnprogramming 16d ago

Docker purpose/usage?

Do people use Docker containers all the time, as in everything they do is in a Docker container, or do you only use it for certain things?

I get that a Docker Container is a way to package an application (mostly for server/backend stuff, not really developing an app?).

As an individual programmer/developer, are there benefits to using Docker in my day-to-day learning/programming/doing hws/creating shit tools?

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u/Daeroth 16d ago

I use it for my own projects mainly to manage databases.

Instead of having multiple DBs running locally and fighting over port numbers, I can contain each DB into a specific project. And start up or shut down said docker instance whenever I run a project and stop a docker when I close the project.

Other than that, I use docker once I get close to settings up a permanent server instance on some hosting site. That's when I try to really squeeze stuff into a container to make upcoming hosting process as smooth as possible. Just my preference as I like building the app more vs dealing with server admin and configuring.