What is Continuous Integration?
Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development practice that involves the automatic integration of code changes from multiple sources into a shared repository. Developers regularly merge their code, triggering automated build and test processes to ensure that the integrated codebase remains functional. CI aims to identify and address integration issues, bugs, and conflicts early in the development cycle. With frequent collaboration and automated validation, CI enhances code quality, speeds up development cycles, and contributes to a more reliable and efficient software development process.
What is Continuous Delivery?
Continuous Delivery (CD) is a software development practice that extends the principles of Continuous Integration to automate the entire process of delivering code changes to production. CD emphasizes the automation of manual steps in the release process, ensuring that software is always in a deployable state. This practice reduces the time and effort required for deployment, minimizes errors, and enables organizations to deliver new features, updates, or bug fixes swiftly and reliably, enhancing the overall software delivery process.
What is Continuous Deployment?
Continuous Deployment (CD) is an advanced software development practice that automates the final step of the Continuous Delivery pipeline. In CD, every validated code change that passes through the Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery phases is automatically deployed to production without manual intervention. This approach eliminates the need for a separate manual release process, ensuring that every successful code modification is instantly made live. Continuous Deployment enhances development speed, minimizes human error in deployment, and allows organizations to deliver new features and updates to end-users with unprecedented efficiency and reliability. It is a key component of modern DevOps practices, streamlining the software delivery lifecycle.