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The greatest works of humanity were written without a VCS (novels, operas). Using a VCS is only mandatory for multi-person projects. Code is different. There
by retro64 10y ago
The greatest works of humanity were written without a VCS (novels, operas). Using a VCS is only mandatory for multi-person projects.
Code is different. There are many times that I have been developing and I do something to my code that causes mystery behavior, and I don't catch it until perhaps days later. Being able to walk backward in time and see when the problem first occurred is invaluable.
I used to really like using Visual Source Safe. It was so easy to set up and integrated directly with Visual Studio, there was no excuse not to have a VCS. Too bad it had a reputation for garbling itself (something I never had happen as a single dev).
- hdctambien 10y agoWhen you are teaching students how to code everything they do causes mystery behavior to them.
- jschwartzi 10y agoThis is true, but being able to ask the computer what changed is much more powerful than trying to remember what you did last night and how that's different from the version you had yesterday morning.
- hdctambien 10y agoBeing able to write code that does something in the first place is the most important. Having to learn a VCS at the same time you are learning the difference between a parameter and an argument will cause more harm than good for a novice.
- flukus 10y agoOn the other hand, being free to experiment, screw up and revert back quickly is great for someone just learning. I wouldn't recommend it to someone at the hello world level, but would not long after. The industry is plagued by people that don't know how to use source control.