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It’s easy, in the yin/yang of Hacker News and proggit, to forget that most developers are not even aware of what DVCSes are or what they do. Can this be true?

It’s easy, in the yin/yang of Hacker News and proggit, to forget that most developers are not even aware of what DVCSes are or what they do. Can this be true? I'm definitely not a rockstar developer and I've been using Git for more than a year.

gecko 17y ago
Sadly, yes. I run into them a lot, but always offline. The reason you don't hear about them is because the same people who don't know about DVCSes tend not to frequent forums like Hacker News and proggit. A lot of programmers--and I mean a lot--are just programming to make a buck. Some are good, some are bad, but at any rate, they're not in it for the craft of coding. They're in it because it's a job. Those people don't read the modern equivalent of trade mags because there's nothing in it for them. The only tools that matter are the ones they're actually using, right now. It's these people we really need to reach.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  It's these people we really need to reach. Hmm...do we? I mean, might the time to try and convince someone like that to switch to Git be better spent elsewhere, like trying to inspire the next generation of programmers who actually code because they love it?
- mncaudill 17y ago
  Exactly -- commonly called selection bias.
eli 17y ago
You'd be surprised how many people still use CVS.
- pavel_lishin 17y ago
  You'd be surprised by how many don't use any kind of CVS.
  - ryanwaggoner 17y ago
    I'm actually not surprised, and I've worked on plenty of client projects where the "workflow" was to login via FTP and edit live files on the server. If there was a chance for a potential conflict, just yell across the room to the other developer to make sure you don't step on each other. Sadly, a few of these were for large interactive agencies. I try and steer clear of these kinds of jobs when I can, or at least try and push them towards svn or git.
    - briancooley 17y ago
      I worked for a client that used this exact method, plus comments in the source to indicate who changed the code, with old code commented out. I was one of several developers working remotely. It was a mess. When I suggested version control, the reply was "We're not big enough." Sigh.
- AndrewDucker 17y ago
  Yup, my employers are still standardised on CVS. We're hoping to start trying out SVN in the next year or so - but Git is just too different to gain any traction in the near future. Not helped by the fact that SVN has hooks into the Visual Studio version control architecture, whereas Git has an odd plugin that works in a non-standard way.
- umjames 17y ago
  Yep, my employer still uses CVS, and by "uses" I really mean blindly commits everything (including output files) using TortoiseCVS with no commit messages. No branches, almost no tags. I mentioned git once to my boss and it was definitely over his head. So I put git (via Cygwin) on my machine and am using it with CVS (as much as I can).
- spudlyo 17y ago
  You'd be surprised how many people still use RCS. I've recently learned RCS so I could make changes to files managed by Foswiki, a modern and quite nice Wiki.
rikthevik 17y ago
Yeah, Subversion has always worked reasonably well for me. While I was in school at least, getting my project partners to use version control at all was a major victory. With all the projects popping up on github I have a feeling I'll push one of my tinkering projects up there pretty quick.

gecko 17y ago

Sadly, yes. I run into them a lot, but always offline. The reason you don't hear about them is because the same people who don't know about DVCSes tend not to frequent forums like Hacker News and proggit. A lot of programmers--and I mean a lot--are just programming to make a buck. Some are good, some are bad, but at any rate, they're not in it for the craft of coding. They're in it because it's a job. Those people don't read the modern equivalent of trade mags because there's nothing in it for them. The only tools that matter are the ones they're actually using, right now. It's these people we really need to reach.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago
It's these people we really need to reach. Hmm...do we? I mean, might the time to try and convince someone like that to switch to Git be better spent elsewhere, like trying to inspire the next generation of programmers who actually code because they love it?
mncaudill 17y ago
Exactly -- commonly called selection bias.

eli 17y ago

You'd be surprised how many people still use CVS.

pavel_lishin 17y ago
You'd be surprised by how many don't use any kind of CVS.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  I'm actually not surprised, and I've worked on plenty of client projects where the "workflow" was to login via FTP and edit live files on the server. If there was a chance for a potential conflict, just yell across the room to the other developer to make sure you don't step on each other. Sadly, a few of these were for large interactive agencies. I try and steer clear of these kinds of jobs when I can, or at least try and push them towards svn or git.
  - briancooley 17y ago
    I worked for a client that used this exact method, plus comments in the source to indicate who changed the code, with old code commented out. I was one of several developers working remotely. It was a mess. When I suggested version control, the reply was "We're not big enough." Sigh.
AndrewDucker 17y ago
Yup, my employers are still standardised on CVS. We're hoping to start trying out SVN in the next year or so - but Git is just too different to gain any traction in the near future. Not helped by the fact that SVN has hooks into the Visual Studio version control architecture, whereas Git has an odd plugin that works in a non-standard way.
umjames 17y ago
Yep, my employer still uses CVS, and by "uses" I really mean blindly commits everything (including output files) using TortoiseCVS with no commit messages. No branches, almost no tags. I mentioned git once to my boss and it was definitely over his head. So I put git (via Cygwin) on my machine and am using it with CVS (as much as I can).
spudlyo 17y ago
You'd be surprised how many people still use RCS. I've recently learned RCS so I could make changes to files managed by Foswiki, a modern and quite nice Wiki.

rikthevik 17y ago

Yeah, Subversion has always worked reasonably well for me. While I was in school at least, getting my project partners to use version control at all was a major victory. With all the projects popping up on github I have a feeling I'll push one of my tinkering projects up there pretty quick.