We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Software

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is Continuous Integration?

By Adrem Siratt
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 6,346
Share

Continuous integration (CI) is the practice of keeping a repository of programming code frequently updated with a developer's changes. This helps ensure that multiple developers do not create programming code that conflicts with one another. Without continuous integration, conflicts that prevent code from running become quite common.

In an environment with multiple developers, it becomes necessary to form a system that enables the developers to work together. A central system of code is referred to as the code base or code repository and serves as the starting point for all of the developers' work. Each developer in the group may have a different task. One may need to improve the user interface while another may need to fix a problem in the code.

The developers may work on different aspects of the program, but there is the possibility of conflicts arising. These conflicts may lead to the program becoming unstable or even result in the application not running at all. This forces developers to spend extra time determining what particular part of the code is causing the problem. This results in a loss of productivity and time as developers are forced to fix problems that could have been avoided.

Continuous integration is the solution to this problem. Continuous integration works by ensuring that every change a developer makes is immediately updated in the code repository. When another developer accesses the code repository, he will receive a copy with the changes the previous developer has made. This helps ensure that each developer receives the most updated copy of the programming code available.

Continuous integration does not prevent integration problems. While continuous integration does help limit integration problems, these problems still arise in all multi-developer environments. Even with continuous integration, it still takes time for each individual developer to make changes to the code. This results in some changes being made to the repository without other developers realizing it.

While continuous integration is not able to alleviate all of the conflicts that arise in a multi-developer environment, it is an effective solution that maximizes productivity. It enables multiple developers to work together and create applications in a reasonable amount of time. Without it, developers would be forced to spend hours trying to rectify the problems that arise as a result of trying to integrate two different pieces of code. CI saves developers time and saves businesses and consumers money.

Share
EasyTechJunkie is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
Share
https://www.easytechjunkie.com/what-is-continuous-integration.htm
Copy this link
EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.