If you've ever wanted to get into continuous testing and validation of your code but didn't want the hassle of having to set up a new instance/server just to do it, you're in luck. Travis-CI does exactly that and is a hosted platform anyone can use. Today on the SitePoint blog Michael Calkins wants to help you get started using Travis-CI for your PHP-based applications.

Continuous integration (CI) allows a team to commit their work quickly, which means there will be multiple commits to a repository daily. Every time there is a commit it is verified by an automated build (including test) to alert you of any build or test errors immediately. Once the process of integrating and verifying your work into the master becomes automatic you are able to develop cohesive software rapidly.

He starts by introducing Travis -CI and what it has to offer developers. He shows you how to get started, linking it with Github, and how to sync the repositories you want tested in the configuration. He talks about the ".travis.yml" configuration file, provides an example and how to start up a new build. There's also a mention of the build status images you can add to your repository to show the current build status. The rest of the article talks about other topics like pull request testing, a branch summary and how to view the build history.