What is Version Control System?

If you are a programmer, you must have heard of Git and GitHub. Version control, also known as source control, is the practice of tracking and managing changes to software code.

In this article, we will cover the following topics.

• What is a Version Control System?
• Benefits of Version Control Systems
• Why is a Version Control System Important?
• Most Popular Version Control Systems

What is Version Control System?

Version control, also called source code management, allows you to manage changes to files over time and store those changes in a database.

A version control system is a software tool that helps software teams manage changes to source code over time.

You can use version control to version code, binary files and digital assets.

As mentioned above, version control systems are sometimes referred to as revision control or source code control.

Benefits of Version Control Systems

Using version control software provides great benefits for developing high-performance software and running DevOps processes correctly.

Version control also helps developers move faster and allows software teams to maintain efficiency and agility as the team scales to include more developers.

Some of the benefits of version control systems are as follows.

• A complete long-term change history of each file is maintained. This means that every change made to the file over the years by many people is kept.
• Allows team members to work on the same code simultaneously. By creating sub-versions, it is possible to carry out different work on the software and then integrate it into the main software.
• It provides the opportunity to track every change made in the software and link it to project management. It allows problems on the software to be associated and tracked with versions.

Why Version Control System is Important?

Version control is important to keep track of changes and ensure that every team member is working with the latest version.

It is necessary to use version control software for all code, files and assets that multiple team members will collaborate on.

A version control system helps you develop products faster.

Version control system is important, because

• Increases visibility.
• Helps teams collaborate around the world.
• Accelerates the product development process.

Most Popular Version Control Systems

There are several types of version control systems that teams use today. Some are centralized. Some are distributed.

Here are a few popular version control systems;

• Git
• SVN
• ClearCase
• Mercurial
• TFS
• If you are using Git, you can review our Git Commands article.

If you want to get to know version control systems more closely, we recommend you to review our article called Best Version Control Systems.

As a Conclusion

While it is possible to develop software without using any version control, doing so exposes the project to great risk.

So the question is not whether to use version control, but which version control system to use.

Find out about Git: https://devopstipstricks.com/what-is-git-why-should-i-use-it-what-are-github-gitlab-bitbucket-for/