Automation

Depending on what you're used to, I've got some bad news for you. When doing CI, the command line is your best friend. Personally, I see the need for a command line, but I don't like it one bit. It requires way too much typing and memorization for my taste. Anyway, Linux users rejoice and spoiled Windows users get ready for a trip back to the 80s when user interfaces had yet to be invented. However, we're going to automate a lot, and that will be the computer's job. Computers don't use user interfaces. So, while you hit F5 in Visual Studio and compile your code, your build server needs to know it should run MSBuild with some parameters, such as the location of your solution or the msbuild file.

Luckily, most tools have some form of command-line interface. Whether you are working with .NET, JavaScript, Java, SQL Server, Oracle, or any language or tool, you can always run it using a command line. Throughout this book, we will use various tools and I do not think we will use any of them without using the command line as well. In fact, the command line seems to be back (although, was it ever really gone?). Various tools, such as NodeJS, npm, and MongoDB, are used through the command line. Furthermore, we will see tools, such as MSBuild, MSTest, and NuGet, that all work from the command line (or from a single click in your IDE).