# Virtual environments and Docker containers -

Source: https://docs.lambda.ai/education/programming/virtual-environments-containers/

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[Virtualization](../../../tags/#tag:virtualization)

# Virtual environments and Docker containers

## What are virtual environments?

Virtual environments allow you to create and maintain development environments that are isolated from each other. Lambda recommends using either:

- [Python venv](#creating-a-python-virtual-environment)
- [conda](#creating-a-conda-virtual-environment)

### Creating a Python virtual environment

Create a Python virtual environment using the `venv` module by running:

```bash
python -m venv --system-site-packages NAME
```