What is katacoda?

Today, with technology changing paradigms so rapidly, there are tons of innovations taking place every day.

Katacoda is one such innovation that will make your life much easier and more efficient.

Let us understand this new platform in detail.

What is Katacoda?

If you are looking for an interactive learning platform, then look no further. Katacoda is an interactive e-learning platform for software developers as well as students.

NOTE: You do not have to download or configure anything before using this tool.

It is highly accessible under several environments and offers you over 70 free interactive scenarios.

Take a look at some of the most impressive highlights associated with it.

Guided path

Katacoda provides you with a list of guided pathways. These pathways assist you to build or enhance your knowledge related to several real-world scenarios.

Keep up to date

The ever-growing technological industry is highly competitive. It is mandatory that you keep your skills up-to-date. Katacoda helps you to do that.

Interactive Sessions

Every tutorial and session is interactive with pre-configured live environments that are specially designed for you to use.

Moving forward, let us understand this learning platform in more detail.

Katacoda – In detail

Katacoda Is an incredible e-learning model that uses cloud containerization technologies like Kubernetes and Docker.

When you use this platform, there is no need to install the software locally. If you wish to run any sample code, you can access it via a concept known as ‘playgrounds’. Here, feel free to run as many codes as you want.

There are tons of playgrounds available for your ease. As an example, Docker, TensorFlow, or Kubernetes are among the most famous and widely used playgrounds.

This strategy is used by various companies wherein they offer online playgrounds to use specific technologies. This way, the users can understand and use their products in a better way.

Now, Katacoda inhabits another new concept called Scenarios. It is quite an upgrade for playgrounds! Let’s see how.

Scenarios

Katacoda Scenarios is a concept where you can learn interactively in a step-by-step fashion.

Every step is inclusive of an overview and showcases the information about whatever you are going to learn in the next one. There are interactive terminals where you can try and execute commands.

This proves that Katacoda is an incredible tool to learn as well as teach any software technology.

Additionally, when you execute the commands, all you have to do is click to copy the commands, and run them in the terminal. There is no need to type anything. It gives you a lot of ease and saves you from any kind of hassle.

Moreover, multiple scenarios exist in order to create a course. Such scenario-based learning helps to diminish the ramp-up time too.

Now you may wonder, how is the scenario made? The process is straightforward and quick. Follow the below-given procedure in a step-by-step fashion to reach your goal.

Step 1: The first step is to create a GitHub repository.

Go on to create a public GitHub repository for the purpose of creation of the scenarios. Take a look at the given below snapshot.

Step 2: Update the profile

The next step is to update your Katacoda profile. Save the URL of this repository.

Step 3: Webhook Secret Token

Now, you have to copy the Webhook secret and then save the profile. The purpose of this secret token is to ensure that only the verified GitHub repositories can update the scenarios.

Step 4: How to create GitHub Webhook

This step requires you to create a GitHub Webhook. Head towards your GitHub Repository settings and add a new Webhook there.

Your screen displays this content as shown below:

Step 5: Write

Voila! Your scenario is now ready to use. You can write anything that you wish to!

Additionally, the index.json file consists of an ImageID property. Generally, this is called the base environment. If you are using Docker, you will need the ImageID Docker. Lastly, for Kubernetes, you should go for Kubernetes.

Step 6: To push

After you push the changes in your GitHub repository, all your scenarios, as well as updates, show on your Katacoda profile.

Now, let us hop on to the next segment that describes the concept of courses in Katacoda.

Courses

As you just understood the concept of scenarios. Here, the scenarios are grouped together through the medium of a common subject and are represented with a course.

In the case of Katacoda, the course can be defined by the creation of a pathway file. This pathway explains about the scenarios to include in the course along with the order to display this.

The name of the pathway file is suggested to be kept exactly the same as that of the directory, -pathway.jason. For instance, repo git is an example of the Katacoda scenarios, wherein, there is a course where all the layouts are available. The name of the course is uilayouts. The available scenarios are, uilayout-terminal, uilayout-editor-terminal, uilayout-iframe, etc.

Additionally, the pathway file for this course is uilayouts-pathway.json.

Here is the content of the file, ‘uilayouts-pathway.json’.

{
 "title": "Katacoda UI Layouts Example",
 "description": "Example of different Katacoda UI Layouts. Also, an example of creating a Katacoda Course!",
 "icon": "fa-katacoda",
 "courses": 
 [
 "course_id": "uilayout-terminal",
 "title": "Scenario with Terminal UI",
 "description": "Katacoda Scenario Example"
 },
 {
 "title": "Scenario with Terminal and VS Code UI",
 "pathway_id": "scenario-examples",
 "course_id": "uilayout-terminal-with-vscode"
 },
 {
 "course_id": "uilayout-editor-terminal",
 "title": "Scenario with Editor Terminal UI",
 "description": "Katacoda Scenario Example"
 }
 ...
 ]
}

Pathway ParametersMoreover, here is a description about the pathway parameters used in Katacoda.

Title: This is the title of the course on Katacoda.

Description: It describes the course you use on Katacoda.

Private: If you wish to make the scenario accessible through the Embed API, set it to TRUE.

Icon: Choose the icon when you opt for a course on Katacoda.

Next up we have the course parameters. Take a look.

Courses Parameters

course_id: This indicates the name of the folder of your scenario.

Title: The title of the course is displayed on the course page. You can keep this name different from the one you keep for the title of your scenario.

Description: It showcases the description of the scenario.

Moving onto our next segment, what if you wish to run some workshops?

In that case, You have to create a pathway file that describes the scenarios you want to include. This particular pathway file must be located in the training directory.

Now, what is this training pathway for? Well, it describes the scenarios that are delivered through an instructor-led workshop. Moreover, it helps you to amalgamate several scenarios for the purpose of creating a course that uses the pathway in different events.

The file has to be contained in a directory known as training directory with the suffix as -pathway.json.

Here is an example:

{
 "title": "Istio and Kubernetes Workshop",
 "description": "",
 "courses": [
 {
 "pathway_id": "istio",
 "id": "workshop/deploying-istio",
 "course_id": "deploying-istio",
 "title": "Deploying Istio to Kubernetes",
 "description": "Learn how to deploy Istio to a Kubernetes cluster"
 },
 {
 "pathway_id": "istio",
 "id": "connecting-controlling-microservices/traffic-shaping",
 "course_id": "traffic-shaping",
 "title": "Connecting & Controlling: Traffic Shaping Microservices Connections",
 "description": "Learn Load Balancing, Routes, Rules with Istio"
 }
 ]
}

Katacoda Key Features

• Interactive Learning Scenarios: Katacoda offers a plethora of scenarios across various domains, from Kubernetes and Docker to Python and Go. Each scenario is designed to guide the user step-by-step through a specific topic or task.
• Real Environments: Users interact with real cloud-based environments. This ensures that the knowledge gained is practical and can be applied in real-world situations.
• No Setup Required: One of the major advantages of Katacoda is that users don’t need to set up or configure any software on their machines. The platform handles everything, allowing users to focus solely on learning.
• Embeddable Content: For educators and trainers, Katacoda scenarios can be embedded into blogs, documentation, and courses. This provides a seamless hands-on experience for learners.

Katacoda Benefits

• Accelerated Learning: By providing hands-on experience, Katacoda ensures that users not only understand theoretical concepts but also know how to apply them.
• Cost-Effective: Setting up individual environments for training can be costly and time-consuming. Katacoda eliminates this need, making it a cost-effective solution for both individuals and organizations.
• Always Updated: The tech world is fast-paced. Katacoda ensures that its content is always up-to-date with the latest software versions and best practices.

Who Can Benefit from Katacoda?

• Individual Learners: Whether you’re a beginner looking to get started in the tech world or an experienced professional wanting to upskill, Katacoda offers scenarios that cater to all levels.
• Educators and Trainers: Those who teach or train in software technologies can leverage Katacoda to provide hands-on labs and exercises to their students.
• Organizations: Companies can use Katacoda for employee training, ensuring that their teams are always updated with the latest technologies.

Conclusion

The Katacoda training software helps you to create interactive training sessions. By doing this, your team or learners will be able to grasp more information and knowledge!

We hope that the information about Katacoda helps you to understand the concept in the best way possible.