Docker
Docker is a way to isolate and run entire applications. With Docker it doesn’t matter if you are using a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer anymore. The entire development environment is isolated: programming language, software packages, databases, and more. With Docker we now longer have to mess around with virtual environments. We can faithfully reproduce a production environment locally. And Docker can be shared among team members so everyone is working on the same setup. Wins all around.
Install Docker sudo pip install docker-compose
Images and containers are the two fundamental concepts to grasp when you start with Docker. An image is a snapshot in time of what a project contains. A container is a running instance of the image.
When we ran hello-world we used an official Docker image. We did not have to create the image ourself. But typically we will create custom images and we do so using a Dockerfile. We also will use docker-compose.yml files to run the containers.
A baking analogy we can use here is as follows:
A Dockerfile is the recipe for a cake An image is a snapshot of the recipe at a given time A docker-compose.yml says how to make the cake And the container is the actual, baked cake There are a large number of official images available on Docker Hub for common software like different flavors of Linux, programming languages, and so on. For example, the Hello World image is there.
- Docker is a way to run Linux containers
- Containers are a lightweight alternative to Virtual Machines
- Dockerfile is a list of instructions for creating an image
- Images are made up of one or more layers
- Containers are a running instance of an image
- docker-compose.yml controls how to run the container
- Containers are stateless and ephemeral in nature. We can link the local filesystem via volumes but things become more + + complex with databases .
API with Django/Django REST Framework
Django REST Framework works alongside the Django web framework to create web APIs. We cannot build a web API with only Django Rest Framework; it always must be added to a project after Django itself has been installed and configured. The most important takeaway is that Django creates websites containing webpages, while Django REST Framework creates web APIs which are a collection of URL endpoints containing available HTTP verbs that return JSON.
Django REST Framework Django REST Framework is added just like any other third-party app. Make sure to quit the local server Control + c if it is still running. Then on the command line type the below. (library) $ pipenv install djangorestframework~=3.11.0 Add it to the INSTALLED_APPS config in our settings.py file.
why Django REST Framework APIs ?
- The Web browsable API is a huge usability win for developers.
- Authentication policies including packages for OAuth1a and OAuth2.
- Serialization supports both ORM and non-ORM data sources.
- Customizable all the way down – just use regular function-based views if you don’t need the more powerful features.
- Extensive documentation, and great community support.
- Used and trusted by internationally recognised companies including Mozilla, Red Hat, Heroku, and Eventbrite.