By the way, everything isn't just thrown into a single container. We use Docker to set up the whole app over a series of containers.
So postgres, redis, the flask app and celery all run in their own containers.
Without Docker, you're responsible for getting not only virtualenv set up, but also installing postgres and redis on your box, which is wildly different on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
From a teaching POV, it's easier to level everyone off with Docker, but from a student's POV, it's also easier because now they don't need to worry about any of that. It lets them get to the important material faster. They can just install Docker and run a simple `docker-compose up --build` and they are good to go.
Compare that to listing out a million steps to install python, setup virtualenv, write special clauses for people on Windows or MacOS, etc.. It's a huge burden for everyone, and it's the main reason why I started using Docker for my own projects years ago.
We haven't even talked about installing multiple versions of postgres or redis without Docker too (because apps tend to be developed at different points in time), or deploying an app to production. All of the steps you do to set up a typical real world Flask app on Windows and MacOS are thrown out the window without Docker because your production box is likely running Linux, but with Docker, it's pretty much the same.
By the way, everything isn't just thrown into a single container. We use Docker to set up the whole app over a series of containers.
So postgres, redis, the flask app and celery all run in their own containers.
Without Docker, you're responsible for getting not only virtualenv set up, but also installing postgres and redis on your box, which is wildly different on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
From a teaching POV, it's easier to level everyone off with Docker, but from a student's POV, it's also easier because now they don't need to worry about any of that. It lets them get to the important material faster. They can just install Docker and run a simple `docker-compose up --build` and they are good to go.
Compare that to listing out a million steps to install python, setup virtualenv, write special clauses for people on Windows or MacOS, etc.. It's a huge burden for everyone, and it's the main reason why I started using Docker for my own projects years ago.
We haven't even talked about installing multiple versions of postgres or redis without Docker too (because apps tend to be developed at different points in time), or deploying an app to production. All of the steps you do to set up a typical real world Flask app on Windows and MacOS are thrown out the window without Docker because your production box is likely running Linux, but with Docker, it's pretty much the same.