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Docker for local web development, conclusion: where to go from here

I hope you enjoyed going through these tutorials as much as I enjoyed writing them, and that you now clearly see how to use Docker to your advantage, and feel comfortable doing so. That being said, you might still feel like some stones are left unturned, so I will try and flip some of them in this conclusion, the same way I used the introduction to try and address some of the concerns you might have had before taking the plunge.

Docker for local web development, part 8: scheduled tasks

Once we start to get comfortable around Docker and make it a full component of our development environment, inevitably there will come a time when we have to deal with some form of task scheduling.

Docker for local web development, part 7: using a multi-stage build to introduce a worker

There are many ways to increase an API's responsivity, and one of them which is also the focus of today's article is the use of queues. Queues are basically lists of tasks to be performed at a later time which, unlike flossing, will be completed eventually. What's important about those tasks – called jobs – is that they don't need to be performed during the lifecycle of the initial request.

Docker for local web development, part 6: expose a local container to the Internet

While using Docker for local development allows us to replicate a production environment as closely as possible in a self-contained way, in some instances exposure to the outside world is unavoidable. Typical use cases include testing a third-party service's webhook (like a transaction confirmation from a payment gateway), or showing a project's advancement to a client.

Docker for local web development, part 5: HTTPS all the things

While it is getting ever cheaper and easier to encrypt the web, somehow this evolution doesn't extend to local environments, where bringing in HTTPS is still far from a sinecure. This article intends to ease the pain by showing you how to generate a self-signed SSL/TLS certificate and how to use it with our Docker-based setup, thus getting us one step closer to perfectly mimicking a production environment.

Docker for local web development, part 4: smoothing things out with Bash

As our development environment is taking shape, the number of commands we need to remember starts to build up. With little effort, Bash will allow us to add a layer on top of Docker to abstract away most of the complexity, and introduce a standardised, user-friendly interface instead.

Docker for local web development, part 3: a three-tier architecture with frameworks

There are many ways to manage a multitiered project with Docker, and while the approach I am about to describe certainly isn't the only one, I also think this is a subject that doesn't get much coverage at all.

Docker for local web development, part 2: put your images on a diet

By using standard Linux distributions, we embark a lot of tools and services we don't always need, unnecessarily increasing the size of the images in the process. In turn, this has an impact on performance, security and, sometimes, the cost of deployment.

Docker for local web development, part 1: a basic LEMP stack

I trust you already read the introduction to this series and are now ready for some action. The first thing to do is to head over to the Docker website and download and install Docker Desktop for Mac or PC, or head over here for installation instructions on various Linux distributions.

Docker for local web development, introduction: why should you care?

Among developers, exposure to Docker ranges from having vaguely heard of the technology to using it on a daily basis, the latter category singing its praises while the former is sometimes still struggling with the sheer concept of containers.