vscode_docker_playground

In this repository we will set up a reproducible and isolated environment for programming using Docker and VSCode. If you need a thorough dive into Docker, I recommend the Docker documentation page. For more details about VSCode, have a look at the VSCode documentation page.

Building a Docker Image

Steps to build the Docker Images:

# For the cpu docker image
docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.cpu --build-arg UBUNTU_VERSION=18.04 --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=3.7 -t docker_playground_cpu .

# For the gpu docker image
docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.gpu --build-arg CUDA_VERSION=11.2.1 --build-arg UBUNTU_VERSION=18.04 --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=3.7 -t docker_playground_gpu .

Running a Docker Container

Once you have built a Docker Image, you can run a Docker Container, that uses the Docker Image to create your isolated environment:

# Simple cpu image example
docker run -it \
    --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/code,target=/code \
    docker_playground_cpu /bin/zsh

# Simple gpu image example. Note that nvidia-docker needs to be installed!
docker run -it \
    --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/code,target=/code \
    --gpus all \
    docker_playground_gpu /bin/zsh

Setting Up your development environment using Docker and VSCode

The .devcontainer folder specifies the arguments needed for VSCode to launch an isolated environment. In particular, the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file specifies build arguments for building the Docker Image, the path to the Dockerfile recipe, the run arguments when running a container, and many more. For details you can visit the devcontainer reference page.

The steps to run the container in VSCode are the following:

1. Open the VSCode app.
2. Install the Remote - Containers VSCode extension (see details here)
3. Open the folder containing the .devcontainer folder (File->Open Folder). In our case this is ${HOME}/code/vscode_docker_playground.
4. VSCode should prompt you that the folder contains a devcontainer file and you could run your code inside a Docker Container. Select Build Image. In case the prompt does not appear, go to View->Command Palette and type Remote-Containers: Open Folder in Container, pressing Enter to the command. Select the folder that contains the .devcontainer file, and the docker container will now be created for you!