JavaScript moves fast. Both the language, and the frameworks and tooling around it are receiving updates at an enormous rate these days. This pace of change oftens means a project you worked on a few months ago is now using “outdated” tools and technologies compared to your current project. And the older a project gets, […]
How a 650MB Node.js Image for Docker Uses Less Space Than a 50MB Image
A while back I wrote a post about selecting a base Docker image for Node.js. In that post, I talked about the size difference of the default build for Node.js and the smaller, “slim” and “alpine” builds. The difference can be significant: 650MB for the full image, vs 50MB for the Alpine Linux version. However, […]
Never Use The :latest Image From Docker Hub
It’s tempting to use the “:latest” tag of an image when you first get started with Docker and pulling images from DockerHub. After all, who wouldn’t want the latest and greatest version of MongoDB, Node.js, Redis, etc, when they start a project? But this is a guaranteed way to ruin your life, destroy your productivity […]
How To Learn ES vNext Without Jeopardizing Existing Work
Around a year ago, I wrote a blog post lamenting the high cost of entry for using ES6 features like generators, modules, etc. Since then, the world of JavaScript runtime environments has progressed significantly. Most (if not all) of the features that were once difficult to use without pre-compilers are now available to the general […]
What’s The Easiest Way To Get Docker Into Production?
and once it’s in production, how do I manage, monitor and scale when I need to? These are questions I’ve often been asked, and have asked several times. They are not questions for which I’ve had a good answer, though. Until I spoke with Elton Stoneman from the Docker DevRel team, that is.
Are You Struggling To Learn ES6/ES7 Features Without Breaking Your Current Projects?
Sometimes it seems like it’s impossible to learn the new stuff without breaking your existing work… installing new versions of Node.js, updating Babel.js plugins, enabling experimental features with command-line flags? Nope. It’s far too easy to break things in your current project. But I’ve been working on something that might help make this easier. Before […]
Docker for Developers – An Interview on JavaScript Jabber
On March 28th, 2017 I made an appearance on the JS Jabber podcast with a great panel of software developers, talking about Docker for software developers and JavaScript. Check out the episode and learn more about what Docker can do for you, how it works, and more!
What I Learned By Deleting All Of My Docker Images And Containers
A few days ago I deleted all of my Docker containers, images and data volumes on my development laptop… wiped clean off my hard drive. By accident. And yes, I panicked! But after a moment, the panic stopped; gone instantly after I realized that when it comes to Docker and containers, I’ve been doing it wrong.
Tired Of Waiting For ‘npm install’ To Finish Every Time You Touch Docker?
In February, I launched the first of my WatchMeCode: Live! sessions on Docker. This is a series where I do a live webinar-style session of talking about code, providing commentary and getting live Q&A from the audience at the end. For March 2017, I’m preparing another session on the ever-so-frustrating npm delay in Docker. What […]
Fixing npm’s Wall of Red Text in Docker
Docker + Node.js is a beautiful combination. But among all of the advantages of using these tools together, there are some mild frustrations… things that just don’t quite fit nicely. Take the npm Wall of Red Text, for example. It seems every time I run ‘npm install’ inside of my docker container, I nearly have […]