What is CI?

Continuous integration (CI) is a fundamental practice within the DevOps methodology. It emerged in the late 1990s as a response to the challenges of traditional software development, where infrequent and large code merges often led to integration issues and bugs. CI automates integrating code changes from developers into a central repository. Every time a developer commits their code, automated builds and tests are triggered, providing immediate feedback on the code's functionality and compatibility with the existing codebase.

This continuous integration cycle offers significant benefits to both developers and users. Developers can identify and fix errors early in the development process, leading to faster bug resolution and a more stable codebase. Additionally, CI empowers developers with frequent feedback, allowing them to iterate and improve code quality more efficiently. Ultimately, CI translates to a smoother development process and a more reliable, bug-free final product for users. By enabling faster development cycles and early detection of issues, CI paves the way for quicker delivery of new features and functionalities to users.

So, CI has been around for a while now. But then, so has DevOps.

DevOps has been around for a while, yeah, but that's a good thing! Many of you haven't experienced the struggles of waterfall development or even know what tools like Visual Test were – that's awesome! While understanding different approaches can be helpful, focusing on the current tools that matter most is key.

Today, we have entire DevOps stacks that streamline development, building, testing, and even deployment within an agile environment. These constantly evolve, with new features and capabilities emerging all the time.

Remember how everyone used to talk about Application Release Orchestration (ARO)? That term faded away, right? You might even hear it again occasionally, sparking a "wait, is that coming back?" moment. Vendors come and go, products merge, and some disappear entirely. This is a sign of a healthy market – needs evolve, users mature, and better solutions emerge. Sure, having a product vanish can be frustrating, but the prevalence of open source in CI/CD helps soften the blow. As outdated tools fall by the wayside, newer, better options take their place, making the whole ecosystem stronger.

Speaking of tools, let's talk about Jenkins. It's widely used, maybe a little too widely used. Usage seems to be dipping, and the developers are making improvements to address things that push organizations toward other solutions. The good thing about Jenkins is that it can do everything. But that is also part of the problem with Jenkins. While Jenkins was once a simpler tool, years of competition and evolving needs have turned it into a bit of a heavyweight. If you're working on a small project or a team using it solo with basic requirements, all you really need is something that gets a quality product out the door fast.