DevLearn
Docker Fundamentals

Docker Essentials

Foundation concepts every Java developer needs

38%

3/8 lessons

Lessons

Lesson 1
12 min

What is Docker?

Introduction to containerization and Docker

Docker is a platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers. Containers are lightweight, standalone packages that include everything needed to run a piece of software: code, runtime, libraries, and settings.

Code Example

# Check Docker version
docker --version

# Run Hello World container
docker run hello-world

# List running containers
docker ps

# List all containers
docker ps -a

# List images
docker images

Key Concepts

Consistency

Run the same container on dev, test, and production. No more "works on my machine" issues.

Isolation

Each container runs in its own isolated environment with separate filesystems and networking.

Portability

Build once, run anywhere. Local machine, cloud, or Kubernetes cluster.

Efficiency

Containers share the host OS kernel, making them lightweight compared to VMs.

Key Insight

Think of Docker containers as lightweight VMs that start in seconds and use a fraction of the resources. But unlike VMs, they share the host kernel.