Part 27: Yaml Vs Classic Editor | Azure Pipeline | Azure DevOps

Hey Everyone,

In this video, I'll talk about what's the difference between YAML and Classic Editor. YAML is the newer way where you can define the pipeline as code, in YAML format, which you then commit to a repo. Azure DevOps does have an assistant to help you create/modify the YAML pipelines, so you don’t have to remember every possible setting or keep having to look up references.

Classic UI
💗 No DSL (domain specific language) to learn, which enables super fast on-boarding, especially for those that come from a SysAdmin background rather than a Developer background
💗 Very easy to make quick changes, which encourages experimentation
😐 Contrary to popular belief, it does have versioning, and you can revert to a previous one easily
👎 It’s being deprecated. This will become lower and lower in Microsoft’s priority list when it comes to new features

YAML
💗 It is code, and managed as a source file, so it will go through a standard code review / pull request process
💗 Because it is in the repo, when you need to revert the source to an early commit, the pipeline will be reverted together as well
💗 Like all text files, it is easy to manipulate and change multiple values in one go. If needed it can even be generated from a script
💗 Comparing changes is much easier compared to the Classic UI versioning, which means it’s easier to identify root cause if build breaks
💗 Encourages collaboration — it’s much easier to code snippets through Slack or whatever than cropped screenshots
💗 Supports Container Jobs, which is quite important to some teams
😐 Azure DevOps does have assistant to help building a YAML file, so it’s not as daunting as it first looks for inexperienced users
👎 Not as mature as the Classic UI — some features are still on the roadmap