Continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) are extremely common terms used when talking about producing software. But what do they really mean? In this article, I’ll explain the meaning and significance behind these and related terms, such as continuous testing and continuous deployment.
Quick summary
An assembly line in a factory produces consumer goods from raw materials in a fast, automated, reproducible manner. Similarly, a software delivery pipeline produces releases from source code in a fast, automated, and reproducible manner. The overall design for how this is done is called “continuous delivery.” The process that kicks off the assembly line is referred to as “continuous integration.” The process that ensures quality is called “continuous testing” and the process that makes the end product available to users is called “continuous deployment.” And the overall efficiency experts that make everything run smoothly and simply for everyone are known as “DevOps” practitioners.
What does “continuous” mean?
Continuous is used to describe many different processes that follow the practices I describe here. It doesn’t mean “always running.” It does mean “always ready to run.” In the context of creating software, it also includes several core concepts/best practices.
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