What is a Continuous Integration, and Why is it Important?

Software development is a long-drawn process. Often, one of the two situations arises at the time of delivery: either the deadline goes by, the software isn’t ready, or the deadline is met, but the software is faulty and full of bugs. Now you may be wondering if there is a solution to this. Well, certain software practices and methodologies can radically increase the project's success rate and make the development process a more pleasant experience. And one such practice is Continuous Integration (CI). Let's dive deep into the concept of continuous integration.

» What is a Continuous Integration?

In simple words, continuous integration is a development practice that necessitates software developers to integrate code into a central repository several times a day. Each time the code is integrated, it is scanned and verified by an automated build, enabling teams to automatically and quickly detect issues. CI allows working groups to integrate code changes coming from multiple sources quickly.

The process leverages many automation tools that focus on the code’s correctness before integration. Below is an example of a continuous integration workflow to help you understand the process better. With continuous integration, every integration triggers an automated code build and test sequence query. If the CI is successful, it will lead to the following stages of continuous delivery.

On the other hand, if the build fails, the system will block it from moving on to the next steps. It will also notify the team with a report and repair the body quickly, usually within a few minutes. Most software development companies now practice continuous integration. The developers can make the process more reliable and predictable by working in smaller iterations. They can also iteratively build new features as well as detect and fix bugs at a much faster pace. This, in turn, improves product quality and reduces time to market.

» How Does Continuous Integration Work?

Now that you are familiar with what is continuous integration and the example of the same, let's have a look at how continuous integration works:

• • Developers enter the code into their private terminals.
  • Once entered, they commit the modifications to the central repository.
  • The CI server checks the repository and evaluates the changes as they happen.
  • CI builds the system and automatically runs unit and integration tests on the commit.
  • The server also releases deployable objects for testing.
  • The CI server allocates a build tag to the code version it just built.
  • The server provides the team with a report on whether the build was successful.
  • If the build fails, the server notifies the development team, which fixes the issue.
  • The CI tool continues to integrate and run automated tests throughout the project.

Note: CI servers test the code in newly created branches and not in the master build. This ensures the master build is kept safe until the committed changes have passed the tests. The new code is thoroughly tested before it is merged into the master build, therefore maintaining optimal efficiency.

» What is the Need for Continuous Integration?

The process of new product development is quite dynamic. It is hard to figure out everything upfront. Thus, taking smaller steps makes things easier. It enables developers to evaluate more accurately and authorize precision more frequently. There is a greater likelihood of errors for software development teams that work in long feedback loops. Besides, the work needed to incorporate changes into a working software version also increases. More minor changes are much easier to blend.

The developers can avoid common human errors and repetitive tasks. Additionally, a CI tool does it automatically instead of having people manually run tests every time the code is integrated. It monitors the central repository and runs automated tests on every code change. Based on the results generated, the code is either accepted or rejected.

» Benefits of Continuous Integration

Now that you have understood what continuous integration is and why it is needed let us look at some of its most important benefits.

1. Improved Developer Productivity

This is, by far, the most significant benefit of continuous integration. Using a CI tool rids developers from manual tasks and the effort of integrating their code with other parts of the system. They can leave all tedious and repetitive tasks to continuous integration tools and focus on programming the software. It is seen that companies that employ continuous integration practices can deliver optimal value to their customers. On the other hand, development teams that struggle to integrate and build on each other’s work have a slow pipeline. They also face difficulties in scaling.

2. Find and Fix Bugs Faster

Continuous integration testing may involve many different types of checks. As in, you can use the tool to:

• • Verify code accuracy
  • Validate the app’s behavior from a customer’s viewpoint
  • Test code to check common security concerns
  • Evaluate coding style in comparison to industry standards
  • Detect any security issues in third-party dependencies

Integrating all these checks in your development pipeline is an excellent way to boost the product’s quality. Developers can easily spot any bugs or glitches in the code and fix them early on. And this can help develop a product that stands apart in terms of quality and customer satisfaction.

3. Risk Mitigation

With continuous integration, development teams work with a single repository. This provides complete visibility for everyone working on the project. The unit can collaborate more effectively and quickly tackle the issue at hand. And this results in reduced risks in the development process.

4. Enables Quick and Easy Scaling

Continuous integration allows organizations to quickly scale in terms of team size, infrastructure, and codebase size. CI helps build DevOps and highly agile workflows by reducing code integration administration and enhancing communication. Every team member can create a new code and see it through to release. Additionally, they can work on different features in a remote environment and still be assured that their code will flawlessly integrate with the rest of the codebase.

5. Deliver Working Software more Often

Continuous integration is an excellent way for your software development team to build and test every single alteration in the codebase. This lays the foundation for a much faster, more efficient, secure, and resilient software delivery process.

» Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery

By now, you must have understood the purpose of continuous integration. But if you wish to release your product fast, you can automate the entire workflow by extending it with continuous delivery (CD). Essentially, continuous delivery is a process in which code changes are automatically prepared for a release. Additionally, continuous delivery may also be a completely automated workflow. And in that scenario, it is stated as Continuous Deployment.

Contrarily, it may be partially automated with manual steps at crucial points. In other words, the difference between continuous deployment and continuous delivery is the presence of an automated push to production. On the other hand, continuous integration necessitates manual stimulation to production, whereas continuous deployment makes that step automatic. The image below will further shed light on continuous integration vs continuous deployment.

» Continuous Integration Best Practices

1. Test-Driven Development

Once you have set up a continuous integration pipeline with automated testing, improving test coverage is vital. This is when you require an array of tests to determine the efficacy of the codebase generated. Test-driven development (TDD) is deciding all the test cases crucial to your strategy before conducting any actual coding. Often, TDD involves product managers and developers coming together to discuss the list of test requirements. Based on this requirement list, the developers evaluate the final results.

2. Code Reviews and Pull Requests

The developer makes a pull request to merge newly developed or altered code into the central repository. Once a developer makes a pull request, a notification is sent to all other fellow developers that a new set of changes is ready for integration. The pull request also intimates a series of automated approval steps. It also initiates a manual action for approval, where the code is reviewed for a final assessment. Pull requests and code reviews are essential steps in the overall collaboration with the team. But at the same time, it is crucial for every developer first to wait for the automated tests to pass before opening a pull request. This will ensure that the entire team’s precious time is not wasted on any faulty code.

3. Optimized Pipeline Speed

For better software development, the developers must optimize the execution speed of the CI pipeline, given that this pipeline will be a frequently used process. Even a slight delay in the CI workflow can cost the company fortunes, especially when there is an increase in the team or codebase size. Thus, optimizing the CI pipeline's speed is essential as a continuous integration best practice. One benefit of a short channel is that it allows for quicker feedback. Consequently, developers can experiment with newer and innovative features to enhance the end-user experience. And if they witness any bugs or patches in performance, they can resolve them immediately. This can help you gain an edge over your competitors and deliver optimal customer satisfaction.

» How to Get Started with Continuous Integration

Continuous integration must be done at a slow pace. It may require you to change the entire team culture for thorough implementation. Here are five quick steps to get you started.

• • Discuss and write down the tests for the most critical parts of the codebase.
  • Automatically run tests with a CI tool on every code update made to the central repository.
  • Make sure every developer integrates changes at least 10 times daily to evade long-running feature branches resulting in large merges.
  • As soon as the build is broken, fix it immediately.
  • Write a test for every new story that is implemented.

» Conclusion

While continuous integration tools and best practices are crucial to get right, they alone aren’t enough to take an organization down the CI path. For many enterprises, the shift from traditional software to CI processes requires a significant change in how their development teams work together. To successfully implement continuous integration, the development team must agree on specific norms and work patterns and stick to them.

Getting to a dependable build step often requires a lot of refactoring. Similarly, continuously deploying to production creates issues that an enterprise needs to understand and find ways to tackle. However, when done adequately with a proper strategy, continuous integration can bring undeniable benefits to every enterprise. It is quickly becoming a new norm in the software world. And as per experts, the growth in the adoption of CI will only accelerate in the coming times.

Author Bio:

SoluteLabs is a high-performance team focused on mobile and web design and development; we have produced top #10 chart-topping applications on Android and iOS app stores, graphics that have gone viral, and applications with Millions of downloads. We understand your needs and walk an extra mile; clients recommend us for our thorough understanding, communication, ownership of the work we do, quality, and adherence to timelines. Our clients are located in the USA, East/North Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world.