Thread by @jessitron

"The future of developer experience that you can start using right now: devcontainers"
@avdi gets specific at #QConPlus

@avdi Why are containers better for development than other forms of virtualization?
Because they aren't virtualization.

In the right circumstances, development can proceed at native speeds on ordinary computers.

@avdi #QConPlus

@avdi A devcontainer is like the ramen noodles of onboarding to a project: just add hot water and you're ready to go.

@avdi #QConPlus

A typical onboarding experience: documentation goose-chases. (Read this one, it's hilarious)

A devcontainer is executable documentation for all the installations, libraries, tools, etc etc that are needed for day-to-day development on the project. @avdi #QConPlus

Does your app need a Redis instance, and a particular version of Postgres with extensions installed?
Put them in the devcontainer! @avdi #QConPlus

me: Please don't make me install that on my laptop.
Besides, some other project needs a different version.

@avdi Defeat (the need for) version managers!

"I haven't had to touch a language version manager since I started using devcontainers, and let me tell you, I do not miss it." @avdi #QConPlus

@avdi Coud-based development is a thing now, and it's only going to be more of a thing.

Devcontainers work locally AND in the cloud.
@avdi #QConPlus

@avdi If you want people to contribute to your OSS, give them a devcontainer that runs the tests locally immediately.
@avdi #QConPlus

@avdi DO NOT try to use your deployment container as your devcontainer. They have very different needs!
Deployment container: thin, locked-down.
Devcontainer: full of tools, changes often, ports open.
@avdi #QConPlus

@avdi "There are certain techs that when they get adopted
change the development state-of-the-art.
dvcs
ThenvCI and CD

In five years, we'll laugh about how it was normal to spend days getting our laptop set up before we could make our first commit to a project."
@avdi #QConPlus

@avdi for more, see his course: graceful.dev/devcontainers
(I helped with this one)