What is Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment/Delivery (CD)?

CI/CD is a software development practice that automates building, testing, and deploying applications, helping teams release code more frequently and reliably.

1. Continuous Integration (CI) :

* Definition : Continuous Integration is the practice of automatically building and testing code whenever developers push changes to a shared repository.

* Key Features :

Developers frequently commit code to a version control system (e.g., GitHub, GitLab).
Automated builds and tests run to catch errors early.
Tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Travis CI automate the process.

* Benefits :
* Detects bugs early in development
* Ensures code quality and stability
* Encourages collaboration among developers

2. Continuous Delivery (CD) :

* Definition : Continuous Delivery ensures that software is always in a deployable state, meaning it can be released to production manually at any time after passing automated tests.

* Key Features:

The application is automatically built, tested, and prepared for deployment.
Deployment still requires manual approval.
Ensures smooth and safe releases.

* Benefits :
* Reduces deployment risks
* Speeds up the release cycle
vProvides confidence in software quality

3. Continuous Deployment (CD)

* Definition : Continuous Deployment takes Continuous Delivery one step further by automating deployments so that every change that passes tests is deployed to production without manual intervention.

* Key Features:

No human intervention required for deployment.
Requires strong automated testing to prevent breaking changes.
Tools like ArgoCD, Spinnaker, AWS CodeDeploy automate the process.

* Benefits :
* Faster feature delivery to users
* Eliminates manual deployment errors
* Enables real-time feedback and iterations