History does not start with XP   Continuous integration has a longer history than this article indicates  Integration has been performed on software projects for a long time  A number of the elements that are now seen as continuous integration were described by Booch   In the context of continuously integrating a systems architecture establish a projects rhythm by driving to closure certain artifacts at regular intervals  He then goes on to say there are three parts to this  First the macro process of objectoriented development is one of continuous integration Rather than set aside a period of formal testing at the end of the lifecycle the objectorientated life cycle tends to integrate the parts of software and possibly hardware at more regular intervals  Second at regular intervals the process of continuous integration yields executable releases that grow in functionality each release  His final part is that by having integration more frequently quality can be assessed by management risks can be identified and actedupon early