Coding can be tedious and difficult at times. Getting as much help as you can is a good idea, which is why using a CI/CD tool is a great assistant to help with your project. Using a CI/CD tool can really increase your value as a programmer and can be a great addition to your development life.
A high-quality CI/CD tool allows for maximum efficiency. It can give you the ability to significantly increase productivity and save noticeable cost. Moreover, it can help you streamline your process for getting error-free software in the hands of your end users.
CI/CD aids in automation as well as making life easier by continuously integrating code and continuously deploying code—hence the name. It makes catching errors easier, while enhancing communication and code integration between co-workers.
CI/CD in Depth
has its own benefits independent of continuous deployment (CD). With CI, it’s easy to make small changes frequently with minimal errors, resulting in a reliable product. The changes are able to be seamlessly integrated into all areas of the program, resulting in significantly increased coding efficiency.
CD is the other half of the CI/CD program and refers to either continuous deployment or continuous delivery, but usually continuous deployment due to their differences in automation. This part of the tool allows software programs and any additional changes to be automatically deployed to the end user much more quickly.
Continuous delivery automates the entire software release process and allows anyone with permissions to deploy a new release. It also provides the means to update all areas of the systems and set rules for reactions by other programs and systems. This allows deployment to occur with minimal interruption or conflicts with other systems.
Continuous deployment automates this process by pushing every change in the source code into production instead of having to deploy the new release manually. This makes it a step above the continuous delivery system, saving time overall by eliminating all the manual tasks having to do with deploying a new release.
According to Marko Anastasov, “a CI/CD service takes over from there by running all tests and deploying the code to production while keeping the team informed about the outcome of every important event.” Your CI/CD program gives you the ability to monitor everything as well as recover quickly if needed. It can also give you the additional benefit of testing through multiple pipelines simultaneously.
Easier Communication and Integration
The CI/CD pipeline allows for everyone’s code to be put into the same project in real time. Doing this will allow the code to synergize; it keeps everyone up-to-date on how the code looks and operates. This avoids the issue of members mixing code and causing bugs down the line.
When bugs occur (as they do in all coding projects), as long as the CI/CD pipeline is active, and a test automation tool is implemented, the errors will be easily noticed, fixed, and eliminated at a much faster rate than normal.
Increased Efficiency
One of the biggest benefits of utilizing the CI/CD pipeline is that with continuous integration, you can edit or add a few lines of code at a single time. Since the changes will be smaller, fewer mistakes will go unnoticed. And because you’d be using a CI/CD tool, the code would also be tested immediately for errors.
This allows you to focus more on the code rather than solely on errors, making the efficiency of the overall project higher. Not only should this save you some time for attending to the actual code, but it also allows you to be more productive and, therefore, waste less money on overtime.
Regardless, the quality of your project would still improve greatly. This is because you have more time on your hands to make improvements and additions while overall having fewer bugs.
Reducing Costs With a Testing Automation
One of the most important aspects of the CI/CD pipeline is test automation. Making tests automatic ensures that any code that gets added or deployed does not include errors. It also ensures that you save money and time considering that you wouldn’t have to do it manually.
This also allows for greater consistency. Since testing is always occurring, you can be sure that all code being inputted is consistent with the previous code. Having that in combination with more testing when the code gets pushed to a new release allows for even fewer errors to make it through, which will again save you both time and money.
Faster MTTR
MTTR stands for “Mean Time To Resolution.” In other words, it is a measure of how quickly you fix errors. The faster you are to fix errors the faster or shorter MTTR is. And the shorter MTTR is, the better off you are. Continuous integration reduces MTTR because there are smaller code changes. Continuous deployment allows those fixes to immediately and automatically go into the production branch.
A fast MTTR is a sign that you understand how to fix your issues, and will fix them when they arise as fast as possible, which also means you are reliable. A CI/CD program may also include a monitor tool that will give you statistics on the types of problems you have and may even predict what kinds of errors will occur in the future. This is amazing for problem-solving.
Faster Releases
Thanks to continuous code integration, smaller and more frequent code changes are possible. Because of that, errors will be easier to detect and then fix. Depending on the CD configuration, whether delivery or deployment, those changes can automatically be pushed into production. This would occur only after automated tests occur. This means that the project version gets updated more frequently when the tests don’t find errors.
CI/CD Leads to Higher Productivity
All of these benefits add up to the most important benefit of all, and that is increased productivity in your present and future programming career. If your productivity is increased, more of your ideas or goals can come into fruition with less frustration getting in the way.
There are many benefits to the CI/CD pipeline, it’s just a matter of being able to harness it correctly. If you do, then you will become more efficient and reach success easier than you would have before. Not every part of coding needs to be complicated, tedious, or convoluted.
A CI/CD program allows you to focus on producing innovative code. It gives you the ability to constantly test and integrate changes. It also shortens the timeline for deployment and delivery.
Make your life easier by automating your code with a CI/CD program today.
