Best Continuous Integration Software Solution In 2021

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Best Continuous Integration Tools In 2021
Continuous integration is the method of
computerizing the integration of code changes
from various contributors into a specific
software project. The continuous integration
method involves automatic tools that emphasize
the new codes correctness prior to integration.
A source code version control system is the core
of the continuous integration process. The
version control system is also accompanied with
additional checks such as syntax style review
tools, automated code quality tests, and much
more. 360Quadrants has comprehensively analyzed
and published some of the best continuous
integration tools providers to enable businesses
choose the continuous integration tools as per
their requirements. All these providers were
mapped on a quadrant prior to in-depth analysis
and evaluation on two broad categories, product
maturity, and company maturity. 360Quadrants also
provides an extensive SWOT analysis that allows
service providers to acquire knowledge about new
growth opportunities and areas of
improvement. Continuous Integration Tools Vendor
Evaluation 360Quadrants has assessed a total 17
companies offering Continuous Integration Tools,
which were evaluated, of which, the top
10companies were shortlisted and plotted on a
quadrant and identified as Visionary Leaders,
Innovators, Dynamic Differentiators, and Emerging
Leaders. CircleCI, Jenkins, Pantheon, Buddy, and
TeamCity Continuous Integration have been
identified as the Visionary Leaders in the
continuous integration tools space. Visionary
leaders generally have an extensive range of
product offerings and a strong global
presence. Bamboo, Chef, and AWS CodePipeline
Continuous Integration have been recognized as
Innovators in the continuous integration tools
space. Innovators are known to possess innovative
product portfolios and competitive business
strategies. CruiseControl has been identified as
an emerging player in the continuous integration
tools space. Emerging players are usually
growing players who have niche and competitive
product portfolios. Semaphore has been identified
as a Dynamic Differentiator in the continuous
integration tools space. Dynamic Differentiators
have niche product portfolios and strong business
strategies which help them grow
continuously. 360Quadrants Assessment A team of
experts comprising research analysts assesses the
top continuous integration tools vendors on
various evaluation criteria such as product
maturity, company maturity, and key insights from
industry experts and customers. Key factors
considered in product maturity are- product
offerings, type of deployment, key features
functionality, and support services. Key factors
in company maturity are- geographic
coverage,partner ecosystem, organic growth
strategies, and inorganic growth strategies such
as mergers acquisitions and partnerships
collaborations. Each parameter is assigned a
specific weightage as per its significance and
industry demand. Lastly, the vendor is rated
based on the parameters provided, and then a
patent-pending algorithm is processed, which then
systematically generates a quadrant.
Here are a few practices of the best continuous
integration tools process that will help you in
your pursuit of an easier . 1. Perform
integration testing before unit testingThis is
probably an unconventional process since most of
us have been trained that if you discover a
defect in the development cycle later, the
costlier it is to resolve. Thus, it is always
better to complete all the details before moving
on to the significant matters such as
integration testing.
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• The challenge is that that claim was embedded in
  the waterfall development model, in which you did
  not move to the subsequent development until the
  existing phase was complete. Once you goon to
  agile development, however, the idea is not
  relevant. Agile enables you with the flexibility
  to make any changes in the business logic which
  are essential as you move along.
• Avoid testing business logic with integration
  testingThis is the main purpose of unit tests.
  Mixing unit tests with integration tests can
  cause severe consequences on the time it requires
  to run your test suite. Unit tests are usually
  very quick, so they are run for each build
  generated in the CI environment.
• As they aim for basic correctness of code,
  running them often is crucial to identify errors
  early on in business logic, so that the software
  developer who created the bug can resolve it
  immediately. Since integration tests take too
  much time to run, they should not be incorporated
  in every build cycle, but somewhat closer to a
  daily build.
• Understand the difference between integration
  testing and unit testing There are many
  significant indications that help you easily
  differentiate an integration test from a unit
  test
• Encapsulation Unit tests are well encapsulated
  and do not utilize external resources, on the
  other hand integration tests use extra
  components or structures such as the network,
  database, or file system.
• Complexity Unit tests aim at small and different
  parts of the code, so that they are usually easy
  to write. On the other hand, integration tests
  are more complex, frequently requiring tooling,
  and setting up various infrastructures.
• Test failure- When a unit test fails, there is a
  clear indication of a bug in the business logic
  of the code. But when an integration test fails,
  there is no need to check code that implements
  business logic the unit tests must clear out
  bugs at that level. It is highly probable that
  something has altered in the environment and
  needs to be tackled.
• Maintain your testing suites separately
  Integration tests must not be run together with
  unit tests. Software developers working on the
  business logic in the code should run unit tests
  and obtain near-immediate feedback to make sure
  that they have not breached anything prior to
  committing code. If their test suite needs too
  much time and they are unable to wait for it to
  complete before committing code, they are
  expected to just stop running tests entirely
  (both, integration tests and unit tests). This
  also implies that the unit tests are not
  appropriately maintained, which can ultimately
  get you into a position where the attempt
  required to update your test suite with the code
  affects and leads to actual delays in delivery.
• By maintaining your test suites separately, your
  developers can comfortably run the quick unit
  tests during development and prior to committing
  any code. The lengthy and monotonous integration
  tests should be kept set aside for the build
  server in a separate test suite that can be run
  less frequently.
• Log extensively A unit test is known to have a
  certain scope and usually tests extremely minor
  pieces of your application, so when it fails, it
  is usually easy to know why and resolve the
  issue. On the other hand, integration tests are
  quite different. Their range may cover numerous
  software modules, not to mention various devices
  and hardware elements, in any functional flow.
  Thus, if an integration test fails, it could be
  much more complex to detect the cause.