March 2021 Summaries

Arm processors and architectures are gaining traction as development teams increasingly adopt them for various application infrastructures, including microservices and databases, due to their cost-effectiveness. CircleCI offers several options for utilizing Arm-based compute, including hosted execution environments and self-hosted runners. The tutorial demonstrates using Arm in CI/CD pipelines to build, test, and deploy applications, particularly focusing on deploying to AWS ECS clusters using AWS Graviton2 nodes and Terraform for infrastructure management. The pipeline configuration includes reusable commands for installing Terraform and managing AWS ECS clusters, with approval steps ensuring controlled execution. The tutorial highlights CircleCI's introduction of Arm-capable executors, enabling developers to leverage Arm architectures in their workflows, with all code examples available in a GitHub repository.

Apache Cordova revolutionized mobile app development by allowing developers to create applications with a single codebase using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, breaking the previous reliance on platform-specific languages like Objective-C and Java. However, some developers contended that Cordova's apps were not truly "native" due to their reliance on the Webview rendering engine. React Native addresses this by enabling developers to build authentic native apps using JavaScript components that map directly to the platform's native UI elements. This tutorial guides users through creating a simple React Native app, writing and running tests using the React Native testing library, and setting up a continuous integration pipeline with CircleCI to automate the testing process. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of thorough testing in mobile app development to avoid frequent updates that could frustrate users.

CircleCI provides a robust platform for Android developers, offering tools like Docker images, Android machine images, and orbs to streamline the development and testing processes. The platform supports high parallelism and allows developers to run Android emulators directly, enhancing the speed and efficiency of builds. In a detailed guide, developers are shown how to build and test Android applications using a demo project that includes unit and instrumentation tests. The guide emphasizes the use of CircleCI's Android orb to simplify CI pipeline creation, leveraging features like caching, test result storage, and multi-version Android testing through job matrices. Additionally, it discusses strategies for optimizing build times and running tests on real devices, while also hinting at possibilities for continuous integration and deployment, such as releasing apps to the Play Store. The use of caching and specific CircleCI tools can significantly reduce build times, and the platform's flexibility allows for further customization and enhancement of the CI/CD pipeline.

The tutorial provides a comprehensive guide on creating and publishing a Python package, focusing on the principle of "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) by utilizing pre-existing code solutions. It walks through the process of building a simple Python package for converting temperature and distance units, creating and using a virtual Python environment, and publishing the package to Python Package Index (PyPI) using tools like setuptools and Twine. The tutorial also emphasizes the importance of testing and maintaining the package with updates, using a changelog to document changes, and automating the publishing process through CircleCI, a continuous integration service. It details setting up a CircleCI configuration for automated testing and publishing, managing environment variables for secure API token handling, and maintaining a project with semantic versioning. Additionally, the tutorial encourages extending package functionality and outlines the workflow for testing and updating packages through different branches before final publication.

CircleCI has made significant strides over the past year, launching major product additions like CircleCI Insights and private orbs, and offering educational resources such as a developer hub and the State of Software Delivery Report. These efforts coincide with enhanced employee benefits to ensure a supportive work environment during challenging global times. The company has been recognized on Forbes' list of America's Best Startup Employers for 2021, highlighting its commitment to employee satisfaction, growth, and reputation. CircleCI focuses on fostering a healthy, hybrid workforce across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, and has developed an engineering competency matrix to maintain standards as the company scales. The organization emphasizes collaboration and communication in a distributed work environment, using methods like pair programming, structured collaboration processes, and retrospectives to improve teamwork. CircleCI also supports employee engagement through virtual activities and Employee Resource Groups, reinforcing a strong company culture that values both individual and collective growth.

The text discusses the benefits and challenges of using Kubernetes in development organizations, highlighting how it can enhance productivity and application reliability if used correctly, but also noting the potential drawbacks if not properly leveraged. It presents a solution using CircleCI and Shipa to maximize performance and simplify Kubernetes usage, enabling developers to focus more on coding rather than management tasks. The tutorial provides step-by-step guidance on integrating CircleCI and Shipa, including setting up environment variables and configuring pipelines to deploy applications efficiently. By using these tools, developers can streamline their workflow, while platform engineers manage the infrastructure, ensuring a robust and secure Kubernetes platform.

Bazel is a universal build tool developed by Google, used by notable companies such as Twitter and the Android Open Source project. This tutorial guides users through building an Android project using Bazel and setting it up for continuous integration with CircleCI, concluding with automated testing and APK file production. The tutorial includes a sample project: a minimal Android app written in Kotlin with Bazel build configuration, featuring build targets for the app binary and unit tests. Prerequisites for this tutorial include experience with Android development, Kotlin, Gradle, and Git, though prior knowledge of Bazel is unnecessary. Users are instructed on setting up a project by cloning a sample from GitHub, configuring it with Bazel and Maven dependencies, and managing Android SDK and tools. It explains the structure of Bazel packages, the role of BUILD files, and the process of building and testing the project using Bazel commands. Additionally, the guide details integrating Bazel with CircleCI, including setting up the Bazel build system within CircleCI's Android Docker images, specifying Bazel versions for consistent builds, and storing build artifacts. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of using specific Bazel versions in CI/CD environments for deterministic builds and concludes with steps to run the workflow on CircleCI, encouraging further expansion of the pipeline for app deployment.

Over the past decade, Jenkins has been a robust tool for continuous integration (CI) in many mature organizations, facilitating software testing and build automation through its plugin-based architecture. However, the evolving landscape of cloud technologies and modern CI tools presents faster, more efficient, and cost-effective alternatives that integrate essential functionalities natively without needing extensive plugin configurations. Although migrating from Jenkins can be complex and costly, a gradual transition by integrating modern CI tools for new projects while retaining Jenkins for existing processes can be a balanced approach. This strategy allows organizations to leverage the advanced capabilities of newer CI systems, such as enhanced debugging, real-time notifications, and built-in analytics, while maintaining operational continuity. Tools like CircleCI offer easy integration with existing Jenkins setups, supporting a smooth migration process by enabling combined pipelines and offering a Jenkins Converter to simplify the transition.