Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

By : David Cohen, Christian Sturm
5 (2)
Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

5 (2)
By: David Cohen, Christian Sturm

Overview of this book

Developers are always looking to raise their game to the next level, yet most are completely lost when it comes to the Linux command line. This book is the bridge that will take you to the next level in your software development career. Most of the skills in the book can be immediately put to work to make you a more efficient developer. It’s written specifically for software engineers, not Linux system administrators, so each chapter will equip you with just enough theory to understand what you’re doing before diving into practical commands that you can use in your day-to-day work as a software developer. As you work through the book, you’ll quickly absorb the basics of how Linux works while you get comfortable moving around the command line. Once you’ve got the core skills, you’ll see how to apply them in different contexts that you’ll come across as a software developer: building and working with Docker images, automating boring build tasks with shell scripts, and troubleshooting issues in production environments. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to use Linux and the command line comfortably and apply your newfound skills in your day-to-day work to save time, troubleshoot issues, and be the command-line wizard that your team turns to.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
18
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19
Index

Containers vs. virtual machines

You’ve now gotten a taste of the workflow that you’ll use to create and work with Docker images. However, it pays to know a bit about the underlying differences between containers and virtual machines. This knowledge can make a difference when you’re troubleshooting operational issues, and it’s also a common interview question to gauge how well you understand the principles underlying containerization.

Virtual Machines (VMs) allow you to run complete operating systems like Linux, Windows, or DragonFly BSD on top of another host operating system. VMs run independently of the host system. In fact, running Docker on macOS will transparently use a VM to provide the Linux OS that’s needed for Docker.

As a result, a virtual machine runs a full operating system like Linux, which in turn uses an init system like systemd. Because of this, you manage services and processes exactly as if your VM were a physical machine...