Editing 1988: Containers

{{comic
| number    = 1988
| date      = May 2, 2018
| title     = Containers
| image     = containers.png
| titletext = All services are microservices if you ignore most of their features.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOME GLUED TOGETHER SERVERS and updated by a DOCKER AFICIONADO. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Docker (software)|Docker}} is a computer program that performs operating-system-level virtualization also known as containerization. It is developed by Docker, Inc. 

White Hat was complaining about how everyone was using Docker. With the implied statement that he did not understand what all the fuss was about.

Cueball explains the fundamental idea behind Docker. He complains about how difficult it can be to combine two programs and having them work together as one. This is something all programmers can relate to. His specific example is to get two separate programs to display side by side on a tablet.

The main joke is that Cueball's solution is a surprising twist to solving the problem. Instead of writing a lot of complicated code, he sidesteps the problem elegantly by using two separate devices and literally gluing them together.

Another joke is that he uses literal glue and literally purchases two separate computers. Docker uses the same general idea but the "glue" and the "multiple computers" are done in software.

Cueball states that he has achieved enlightenment when he solved the problem by sidestepping it.

White hat at first does not seem to understand the enlightenment since Cueball did not actually learn anything about the programs he was working on. When White hat after a pause says "Ok, fair" this suggests that White hat has now understood what Cueball means. A good programmer doesn't necessarily need to be able to write programs or even understand how they work, provided that he has the skills needed to combine existing programs to solve his tasks.

The title text makes a joke about developers writing code for use in a Docker environment. The ideal is to only write "microservices" which are modules that do just one thing and does that well. The joke here is that even when a module does many different things, you can pretend it is a "microservice" by just ignoring all its features but one (hopefully the one that it does well).

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind him.]
:White Hat: Man, Docker is being used for <i>everything</i>.
:White Hat: I don't know how I feel about it.
:Cueball: Story time!

:[Cueball is standing by himself.]
:Cueball: Once, long ago, I wanted to use an old tablet as a wall display.

:[A picture of Cueball's imagined tablet with two applications open side by side. The app on the left is "LiveCam".]
:Cueball: I had an app and a calendar webpage that I wanted to show side by side, but the OS didn't have split-screen support.
:Cueball: So I decided to build my own app.

:[White Hat and Cueball as before, but White Hat has turned to face Cueball.]
:Cueball: I downloaded the SDK and the IDE, registered as a developer, and started reading the language's docs.

:[A picture of two smartphones glued together side by side, held on a backing board. The same two applications shown earlier are open on different phones.]
:Cueball: ...Then I realized it would be '''<i>way</i>''' easier to get two smaller phones on eBay and glue them together.
:Cueball: On that day, I achieved software enlightenment.

:[White Hat and Cueball still facing each other, with White Hat's arm resting on the back of the chair.]
:White Hat: But you never learned to write software.
:Cueball: No, I just learned how to glue together stuff that I don't understand.
:White Hat: I...OK, fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]