Which of the following best describes a container in cloud computing?

A container in cloud computing is best described as a lightweight, standalone, and executable software package. This definition captures the essence of containers, which encapsulate an application and its dependencies into a single unit that can run consistently across various computing environments. The primary advantage of containers lies in their ability to package applications along with the libraries and other dependencies they need, ensuring that they operate identically regardless of where they are deployed—be it a developer's laptop, a private cloud, or a public cloud.

Containers are designed to share the same operating system kernel but maintain isolation from each other, which allows them to be more efficient and less resource-intensive compared to traditional virtual machines. This approach leads to faster startup times and enables more efficient utilization of underlying resources.

In contrast, other choices describe elements that do not align with the fundamental characteristics of containers. Virtual machines, while they provide some isolation and resource management, require their own OS and can be quite heavy in terms of resource usage. Traditional servers and on-premises hardware resources refer to physical computing infrastructures rather than the lightweight abstraction that containers provide.