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I wrote this because I kept seeing developers (myself included) confuse language-level isolation like Python venv with OS-level isolation like Docker. I wanted
by ThierryBuilds 8mo ago
I wrote this because I kept seeing developers (myself included) confuse language-level isolation like Python venv with OS-level isolation like Docker. I wanted to trace the actual technical boundaries between them.
The article maps out the differences between common execution environments—from physical bare metal and VMs to containers, process sandboxes, and virtual environments—to create a mental model of where the "isolation boundary" actually sits for each tool.
- ianand 8mo agoSince you mention serverless it might be worth mentioning firecracker and v8 isolates.
- ThierryBuilds 8mo agoThank you for the feedback. I will definitely add them as example solutions for serverless.
- pjmlp 8mo agoOr CGIs running on httpd inside HP-UX Vaults, that is how old the idea happens to be.
- ignoramous 8mo ago> how old the idea happens to be TFA is missing a host of many a popular isolation techniques like Isolates, Code Interp / Binary Translators [0], Enclaves, Exclaves, Domains/Worlds, (RISC V) SEEs, TEEs, SEs, HSMs, pKVMs ... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38950949 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38950949
- lateral_cloud 8mo agoDid you really write it though? Within the first paragraph it's fairly obvious this is heavily LLM-generated.
- aragilar 8mo agoIt also has weird definitions. Is nix a virtual environment? Is homebrew a virtual environment? Why is a sandbox different to a container? Type-1 vs Type-2 hypervisors are quite different, and there's no discussion about processes vs threads.
- tadfisher 8mo agoI don't know what it is about LLM-generated text, but when I read it I cannot understand the meaning it is trying to convey. The words are all there, but it is fatiguing to repeatedly parse phrasing like "it's not X but Y" and "you aren't just X, you are Y". The entire article is organized as a sequence of these statements, and this is not hyperbole.
- zipy124 8mo agoBecause it is statistical. It has no understanding of the purpose of writing which is to convey information. It can only show you the statistically most likely text, although very good sometimes, it also has its limitations.
- fuzzfactor 8mo ago>1. Physical Machine (Bare Metal) This is the foundation. Nobody should ever forget this. But I would say this next part is about the opposite for bare metal though: >Use Case: High-performance computing (HPC), large databases, or legacy systems that require direct hardware access. To get the utmost reliability out of adequate hardware then bare metal is more suitable for almost everything except for special situations. Unless something is really wrong with the software or the overall hardware/software approach.
- ThierryBuilds 8mo agoThanks for the feedback. These are typical use cases where the convenience of higher level abstractions may be less important than the benefits of direct access to the hardware.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]