What method of operating system virtualization is used to run applications with their dependencies in isolated processes?

The method of operating system virtualization that is used to run applications with their dependencies in isolated processes is containers. Containers use lightweight virtualization to package an application and all its required libraries and dependencies so that it can run consistently across various computing environments.

This approach allows developers to create an application once and deploy it anywhere without the need for extensive setup or configuration, as the container encapsulates everything needed to run the application. Containers share the operating system kernel but run isolated from each other, ensuring that the execution of one application does not interfere with others.

In contrast, while virtual machines offer a form of virtualization by providing full operating system environments, they are generally heavier because they include an entire operating system alongside the application. Serverless computing abstracts the underlying infrastructure and allows developers to run code in response to events, but it is not focused on the isolation of application dependencies in the same way containers are. Hypervisors are responsible for creating and managing virtual machines, but they do not directly deal with the isolated execution of applications as containers do.