Feature toggles are becoming the friend of a software developer because of their ability to ensure continuous delivery of their software products. The fact that developers can still release products which are essentially still a work in progress is a bonus.
So, let us consider in more depth the feature toggle to see just how it helps software developers to continue working on a product even when it has been released to the world and is being used.
How Do Feature Toggles Help Software Developers?
Feature toggles will help software developers because, as mentioned, a software developer’s company is still able to launch products that have unfinished features. The effect of this is that there is no disruption to either intended businesses waiting for the software or software developers looking to recoup development money as soon as possible, from a product that has taken many months to create to get it to that stage. The result of this could be, in some cases, that prior advertising related to a product would not be wasted when it was not quite ready, or that reputations were saved with customers waiting on a product to be launched when indicated.
Are Feature Toggles a Good Thing?
Feature toggles are well thought of in the software development world as a powerful method in terms of developing software products for release. This is with regards to, not only developing, but testing and the operating code features that exist within continuous delivery frame networks and continuous integration.
They will help your software development team to have a simple method that will ensure delivery of a higher quality product that ultimately has more stable coding under agile principles.
Are Feature Toggles and Feature Flags the Same Thing?
They are the same. Feature flags is simply another name for Feature toggles. They are about turning on or off features at will, which the next section will explain.
How Do Feature Toggles Work?
As components of software development, feature toggles will allow for the specific features of applications to be either activated or deactivated as and when required. The gain of this is that developers of computer software can then toggle safely between new features being either on or off. This avoids the need for disruption when things about a piece of software have the potential to cause problems or conflict for a business and the computer systems that it relies on. Outsourcing software developers who know how to avoid computer problems will help a business tremendously and save it any unnecessary expense.
How Are Feature Flags Used in Code?
The purpose of having feature flags is so that conditional feature branches can be built into code so that logic is only available to certain groups of users at any one time. In other words, when the flag is on, the new code will be executed. Otherwise, when the flag is off, the code will be skipped.
How are Flagging Features Implemented?
Some techniques can be known that will make things easier when it comes to working with feature-flagged software. For example, you can make use of the structured toggle configuration files and expose the current feature toggle configuration. Different toggles can be managed differently, for instance. Feature toggles will introduce validation complexity.
So, there are lots of ways that feature toggles will help the software developer to help businesses. A software product can be released for business use a lot sooner, especially when certain features that might cause problems can be turned on and off as necessary. Delays to new software products can have financial impacts on software companies and businesses looking to compete with competitors with their digital processes. A business without the right software combination can seriously be hampered. A computer system that is easy to use will save time and reduce staff costs in terms of the number of people required to manage it and the amount of work it can process. The above explanation should help to explain why, along with providing some technical details as to how feature toggles or feature flags work.