CJ Eller

There was a context switch for me when I went from predominantly playing an electric guitar to a classical nylon string guitar. A sense of portability — no amp to lug around, no cables to untangle. Of course it wouldn't be able to sonically project like an electric guitar, but that wasn't the point. I could play guitar wherever I wanted to. Power outlets have no hold on my musical expression.

I'm starting to learn more about containers thanks to Bret Fisher's Docker course and it's surfacing the thoughts of portability that I had about the classical guitar. One exercise had me test for the version of curl on a CentOS container. A single line Docker command allows me to accomplish something would've created a VM for back when I had no clue about containers. Even using something more straightforward like Vagrant would've taken more time & resources than that Docker command. I don't have to be tied down by VM's like I was to power outlets with the electric guitar.

But all of this to say that the classical guitar doesn't take away from my enjoyment of playing electric, rather it serves as a complementary experience. Containers might be the same way for me. Learning about containers doesn't diminish the joy of using VM's. Hell, I still use them on a daily basis for work.

I interpret it more as adding something new to my toolkit of technological expression. That I want to be ever expanding anyhow.