Introducing continuous integration
Continuous integration is a methodology where you integrate your own changes with those of all of the other developers in your project and test whether the combined code still works as expected. This way, you create a fast loop that provides you with feedback on your work.
When working with extensive branching strategies for isolating code changes, it is not uncommon for one or more developers to work for days, weeks, or even months on an isolated branch. While this is great for making sure that their changes do not disrupt others, continuous integration is a great way to make sure that there won’t be merge issues later. If you have ever had to merge weeks or months of work back into the main branch, you will know how much work is involved and how often this results in bugs or other issues.
To prevent this, developers should make it a habit to integrate their changes with those of all the other developers at least once a day. Here, integrating...