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CI/CD (Pipeline) Clarified
There is really no need for the terms such as CD, CI/CD, CI/CD Pipeline or CT, if software professionals do CI properly. Automated End-to-End UI Testing is the key.
This article is one of the “IT Terminology Clarified” series.
Nowadays, nearly everyone working in software development hears one or more of the following terminologies on a daily basis:
- CI (Continuous Integration)
- CD (Continuous Delivery)
- CI/CD
- CI/CD Pipeline
- CT (Continuous Testing)
It is a bit confusing, isn’t it? This article will clarify.
Table of Contents:· Why so many similar terms?
· Continuous Integration
· Continuous Delivery is really about testing
· Why “CI/CD”?
· CI/CD Reality
· CI/CD Pipeline
· CT (Continuous Testing)
· Why CI is good enough if done properly?
Why so many similar terms?
First, if a software project does CI properly, there is no need for all other terms. In other words, most projects did CI badly.
The Toyota Corolla is one of the most popular compact cars n Australia, the current model is the 12th generation. In comparison, the names of competitor models from Ford, Holden and Mitsubishi kept changing. Why? Those cars were not good (quality, design, …). Therefore, those car manufacturers released a new model with a different name.
By the same token, after CI was done badly, the management and tech leads are happy to switch to another name, such as “CD”, “CI/CD”, …, etc.
Continuous Integration
Continuous Integration is “where members of a team integrate their work frequently, usually, each person integrates at least daily — leading to multiple integrations per day”. In this famous CI article’s original version (published in 2000. By the way, that’s how CI started), Martin Fowler used “often talked about but seem to be rarely done” in the first sentence. Based on my observation over the last two decades, this still remains true: the term CI is favoured by “talkers”, but…
