What is continuous integration and what are its benefits?
+2
A:
It is the practice of ensuring that all aspects of your software development process are lined up to permit the daily creation of a working version of your product. It is best known as part of Extreme Programming.
This involves things as far afield as build automation, automated testing, daily check-ins, using a source code repository, etc. But the ultimate goal is to help the entire project run according to core Agile Principles so that you deliver early and often. This, in turn, helps you leverage feedback from your users, etc.
Mark Brittingham
2009-01-20 23:18:47
Fowler almost always has the best explanations =)
Rulas
2009-01-20 23:35:30
I am simply amazed by the way he thinks about things ! CLEAR
Perpetualcoder
2009-01-21 01:07:22
No need write on other's words are great
t3mujin
2009-01-27 15:43:55
+4
A:
At its simplest, it is simply a mechanism that rebuilds your project whenever a check in is made into some revision control system (CVS etc). This can be extended though to include running tests, all the way through to generating a CD image, mounting it within VMs, installing the product and running full tests on it.
It has the simple advantage of highlighting when code changes break the system as early as possible. Not only does it detect breaks in the code, it highlights who caused the break. This psychological effect is very effective in encouraging good testing prior to check in!
David Arno
2009-01-20 23:32:30
+1
A:
+1 for the link to Fowler's page.
Personally, I just found it "nice" to know whenever something didn't compile because we had the poor practice of having a single build (yes, we developed on the production build; we were awesome). We hadn't got the integrated testing phase before I left.
After a while, it did, however, lessen the amount of massive coding changes (compared to the "check in and pray my changes don't conflict" that was rampant). Eventually, most developers started making small changes frequently just to get confirmation from the CC.Net tray icon.
Overall, I found it very comforting to know that we could send out a build immediately if we had to. Had we had just a few smoke tests integrated, I think the stress-level would have been substantially lower.
Austin Salonen
2009-01-20 23:43:46