Version Control Systems and Their Importance

Anyone who works as a developer in a team has experienced the chaos that occurs whenever modifications are made to the code. But then for some reason, developers are unable to fix any of those mistakes. Even if developers manage to fix the mistakes, there can still be disruptions or confusion. To prevent developers from facing this situation, the version control system was developed. It’s a practice where any change in the code can be managed and tracked.

In fact, version control systems aid in managing source code changes. There are version control tools that developers rely on because they can prevent the confusion that can occur when there’s a need to fix mistakes in recently modified code.

How can version control help? It tracks every change that’s been made in the code. In fact, it can also tell who made the change. Some version control software is not concerned with workflow and accommodates the developer’s workflow without imposing any specific way of working. Other version control systems help in making the flow of modifications smooth.

What’s the disadvantage of not using version control? Developers won’t know which change is available to users. This can be frustrating. The result? The use of different versions of the file with varying names like ‘updated’ or ‘final’ — we all do this, right? There won’t be any need for this if you use a version control system.

Some examples of version control systems include:

1. GitHub
2. GitLab
3. Beanstalk
4. Perforce
5. Apache Subversion
6. AWS CodeCommit
7. Microsoft Team Foundation Server
8. Mercurial
9. CVS Version Control
10. BitBucket

Companies that use different version control systems include IBM, Microsoft, Broadcom, Micro Focus, and Apache Software. But wait, what are some benefits of version control and why is it useful? Version control systems tell us not only what changes were made but also who made them.

The software does this by tracking changes from the old copy with the final version. Some teams go a step further and connect to different project management tools. Some modern version control systems have both branching and merging features. Additionally, developers can experiment with code by creating a clone of the project and testing new features to see if they work. The best part? You can protect the code by restricting people from committing to the main branch. Multiple developers can also work on the same code base simultaneously.