CI/CD explained

CI/CD combines continuous integration (CI) with continuous delivery or deployment (CD). The purpose of CI/CD is to enable development teams to deliver code changes more frequently and reliably. With a CI/CD pipeline, development teams can make code changes that are automatically tested and released for deployment and use. When used properly, CI/CD minimizes downtime and accelerates code releases.

What is continuous integration (CI)?

Continuous integration is an essential aspect of high-performing software teams. However, implementing CI benefits the entire organization. CI provides greater visibility and insight into the software development and delivery process. These benefits allow the rest of the organization to better plan and execute go-to-market strategies. With continuous integration, bugs and security issues can be identified and fixed quickly and much earlier in the development process.

Continuous integration is a coding philosophy and set of practices that encourage development teams to frequently implement small code changes and check them into a version control repository. Most modern applications require code development using a variety of platforms and tools, so teams need a consistent mechanism for integrating and validating changes. Continuous integration creates an automated way to build, package and test applications. A continuous integration process encourages developers to commit code changes more frequently, leading to better collaboration and quality.

What is continuous delivery (CD)?

CD begins where continuous integration ends. Continuous delivery aims to make the software release process faster and more reliable, reduce time to feedback, and deliver value to users more quickly than would be possible with a manual process.

Since the goal is to deliver high-quality code and applications, CI/CD requires continuous testing. Continuous testing involves running a series of automated regression, performance and other tests on the CI/CD pipeline. Organizations implementing a CI/CD pipeline often employ multiple DevOps best practices, including microservices development, serverless architecture, continuous testing, infrastructure as code and deployment containers. These practices improve process automation and increase the robustness of cloud computing environments. Together, these practices provide a solid foundation for supporting continuous delivery.

Benefits of CI/CD implementation

Businesses and organizations notice many positive changes when they implement CI/CD. Let us take a look at some of the benefits you can look forward to when you implement CI/CD.

• Faster time to market: With the ability to implement changes quickly and reliably, you can respond to new trends and address issues as they arise.
• Shorter review time: Working with smaller increments means you have less to worry about as a code reviewer.
• Better code quality: when you test your code regularly, bugs are discovered sooner. This makes it easier to fix them since fewer functions are built on them. Over time, this leads to better quality code.
• Maximized creativity: by using computers for repetitive tasks, an automated process frees up individuals to be creative. Instead of following manual test scripts, updating environments, or deploying updates, you can focus on solving problems and experimenting with solutions.

Conclusion

The benefits of an automated CI/CD pipeline range from practical considerations like code quality and quick bug fixes to ensuring you are developing the right thing for your users and improving your overall software development process.

Although the name DevOps gives the impression that the focus is on the development and operations teams, building a CI/CD pipeline enables collaboration between different functions. Ultimately, you'll give your team better insight into how your product is being used and give individuals time to focus on innovation.