Revision control, also known as version control, is one of the most important necessities when it comes to programming. Version control is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the process of keeping previous versions of code. By having different versions, one can log changes, updates, and problems of the code. This is particularly helpful when doing large edits to the code. It’s easy to mess up an entire program and not be able to figure out where the problem is. With version control, one can compare versions or even revert to an older working version.
Version control is also beneficial in a teamwork environment. If team member A has done changes to the program but team member B has an older version of the program, B can simply compare and update B’s program. Another scenario would be if both A and B update their own codes and want to combine their work, it is easy for them to see where changes were made between the two versions.
A simple way to grasp the concept of revision control is Google Drive. All Google documents are automatically saved in the Google Drive. With every change made in the document, it is logged and saved to a new version. By simply viewing the document’s history, one can edit and view older versions of the current document.
For programmers, there are a variety of version control systems, but GitHub tends to be one of the most popular. This website offers a free open source repository, or one can pay to have a private source.  |
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Yeates, S. (2005, January 1). OSS Watch provides unbiased advice and guidance on the use, development, and licensing of free software, open source software, and open source hardware.. What is version control? Why is it important for due diligence?. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/versioncontrol
Hi Alexandra,
ReplyDeleteFrom this blog, I learned about version control and how it works. Version control allows different team members to have their own version of code and then updating and changing existing code. I also learned about the importance of version control, which is teamwork.
I feel that you can elaborate more on different types of version control software and compare their pros and cons. I think you should also talk about which software you use the most and why you like it the best. You should also talk about a time you have used version control in a real-life situation.
I found your post to be unbiased and informative. I think this is a great post to learn basic information about version control.