The best practices in software development help create dependable programs and reduce headache at the same time.
Some of the trends in software development are practices that have been with us for decades. However, these methodologies have evolved with time, enabling the contemporary developer to easily manage existing code, as well as adopt an easy of creating new code.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are both software release practices implemented in the software development life cycle. Continuous Integration is a development strategy whereby the code is merged into a shared repository several times on a daily basis.
An automated build is then used to verify each check in; hence giving development teams the ability to detect problems early during the development phase. By maintaining regular check-ins, errors can easily be located and acted upon before it is too late.
On the hand is continuous deployment, a software development practice where software functionalities, improvements and updates are delivered frequently through a production environment that is visible to the user.
Continuous Integration
Continuous integration allows teams to spend plenty of time building features instead of concentrating on back tracking. Additionally, continuous frequent integration is affordable and takes minimal time to implement.
Failure to maintain a continuous fix of software bugs might cause you to spend longer periods of time in future; trying to find and fix wrongs that should have been acted upon earlier on. Sometimes, a stressful bug could knock a software project off-schedule and affect its expected release date considerably.
Where the problem is extreme, the project could also fail. The following list contains the benefits of using continuous integration tools.
⎫ Greater visibility that allows better communication
⎫ Issues can be dealt with earlier on during the development cycle
⎫ Less time is spent debugging the code and more time adding more functionalities and features
⎫ Helps create a solid software foundation
⎫ You never have to wait until the end of the cycle to know your code works
⎫ Reduces integrations problems, therefore enabling you to deploy software more rapidly
Continuous Deployment
The continuous deployment practice ensures that all changes that pass the stages of a production pipeline are released to the end user. In this case, human intervention is eliminated and only a failed test can prevent fresh changes to be deployed to the production line.
This practice is a brilliant way of accelerating customer feedback as well as lift off the pressure from development team. Since the practice eliminates the need for a fixed release date, teams can work on the software stress free and with more flexibility.
Once the team finish working on a given functionality, they can see their end result compile live just minutes afterwards. The following are the benefits of using continuous deployment in software development.
⎫Increase focus on the product improvement
⎫Directs more attention to actual testing by automating repetitive task
⎫Eliminates security and privacy compromises
⎫Allows ease of scalability
⎫Harmonious integration of developer tools and existing technologies
⎫Provision of a unified pipeline for connecting teams and processes
⎫Improvement of overall productivity
Conclusion
The software development practice you choose depends more on the type of software services that you are dealing with. Continuous deployment is more popular with web services and software as a service (Saas) applications. Software companies like Facebook, Github and Amazon deploy on a real time basis. Continuous integration is more popular with mobile applications and gaming software.
