A container is a virtual computing environment that includes everything needed to run one or more applications: an operating system, software and other desired tools, libraries and customizations. Containers are “stand-alone”, enabling workflows to be easily packaged and shared across computing platforms, enhancing reproducibility and portability. This hands-on tutorial will provide an introduction to containers and cover the basics of creating and running containers with Docker and Singularity.

Prerequisites: Participation in hands-on examples is optional. If you would like to do so please install the following on your laptop and bring it to class: 

1. the free community version of Docker. See https://www.docker.com/get-started
2. if you have a Windows laptop, please install an ssh client and text editor beforehand. See https://github.com/ResearchComputing/Research-Computing-User-Tutorials/blob/master/Logging-in/ssh_client_install.docx