Do I Need Source Control

Yes!  For the first time in my 15-year career I had experienced what it is like to not have source control, and I had hated it.  I had lost a very difficult to write SQL statement in a project.  It seemed almost impossible to rewrite the SQL for the second time.   I believe it was two of us working in the same project that had caused this loss of code.   I take the blame because I am the manager and I knew that source control was not implemented.  I should have taken the time to take all of the projects and check them into the source control system.

There are a number of reasons to use source control systems and they include:

1. More than one person can work on the same file and then merge the versions together as one file.
2. Track changes to a build.
3. Control what changes or features is included in a build.
4. Safe guard against accidental code loss.
5. Track coding efforts by developers

Types of Source Control – I have used each

• SVN – SubVersion – Free and Open Source
• GitHub – Limited Free Version – Social Coding www.github.com
• Microsoft Source Control $$$ Not Free, very robust

My experience should not have happened.  In the past, I had always used a source control system, and ensured we had a working backup of the the source control system.  I will be striving to initiate a source control system as soon as possible, so that I am not wasting time recreating code that should never been lost.  Take the time and be a smart developer; use a source control system.  If you do not know how to setup a source control system or how to choose a source control system; ask!