Developing on AWS with C#

Chapter 5. Containerization of .NET

One way to think about containers is as a technology revolution. Think about the internal combustion engine, which went a long way toward transforming the way society used transportation. But now, a new transformation is taking place with the popularity of electric vehicles. They are creating a new way to drive! The same idea applies to the subject of containers when compared to virtual machines—you’ll see what we mean in a moment.

Machines used for transportation have undergone multiple shifts throughout the centuries as technology has improved.¹ Currently, the next wave of innovation in engines is around electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are faster, have more torque, more range, and allow for new ways of fueling that do not require access to fuel depots since they can charge by the sun or the electric grid. Electric vehicles create a new way to fuel a car, like charging while parked at home, at work, or on a road trip. Deeply coupled with electric vehicles is work on building autonomous or semiautonomous cars. New technologies enable new ways to work.

A similar progression has occurred with computing over the decades, as shown in Figure 5-1.² Computing has morphed into smaller and more portable computing units, currently manifested as containers. In turn, these new computing units enable new ways to work. Containers provide a standard way to package your application’s code, configurations, and dependencies into a single entity. Containers ...