4 ms·

Do it. A night or two spent on learning how to use git (and maybe setting up a remote repo) will save you tons of headaches later and produce lots of benefits

Do it. A night or two spent on learning how to use git (and maybe setting up a remote repo) will save you tons of headaches later and produce lots of benefits almost immediately.

apotheon 17y ago
You beat me to it. I agree 100%. Learn to use version control as early as is reasonable. Hell, learn to use it for your personal document directory on your computer at home -- it's great for that, too. It's useful for more than just source code, especially if you want to work on the same stuff on multiple computers.
- caseysoftware 17y ago
  100% yes. I've never found myself thinking "I wish I didn't have that version from before that big last change" but I have thought the opposite.
tdavis 17y ago
In fact, a few months spent learning best-practices for programming in general (including version control, proper testing, automated deployment, isolated environments, etc.) will pay dividends later. Learn these things now (and apply them even where they aren't necessary, in order to build experience and comfort level) and within a year or two I can practically guarantee you'll be better than at least 90% of working programmers. There are so many life-altering tools available for developers now; far more than were available when I started programming. Unfortunately, the longer you build up bad (or simply inferior-to-current) programming practices, the harder it is to apply new, better techniques. Integrate them into your life now and you'll have a sturdy, solid foundation to build on.
- yummyfajitas 17y ago
  Quite right. Here is a tutorial covering some of the basic tools. http://software-carpentry.org/ http://software-carpentry.org/ I'd go so far as to say that every developer should know everything on this page, or at least some substitute (e.g. mercurial instead of svn, ruby or c instead of python).
pvg 17y ago
At the level of 25 line scripts, something like drop box provides about all the headache-prevention and benefits needed. Programming in the large involves a great deal of bookkeeping tasks, which, while important and valuable are about -3.7 on the fun scale. The tools for such tasks also tend to have impressively poor usability. If you've written a 25 line script, write a 100 line or 5000 line one. And have fun. You already understand the importance of versioning and having reliable backups. Assuming your goal is to become a programmer rather than a book-keeper, stick to the programming for now.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  Interesting thought, and you have good points. A 25 line script probably isn't worth the hassle of version control. The thing is that learning version control is well worth the hassle of version control for someone trying to become a programmer.
  - gaius 17y ago
    Definitely. One of my favourite interview questions to ask is, what version control systems have you used. I don't really care if it's not what we use. But someone who can't talk fluently about whatever system probably hasn't worked on a large project, probably hasn't worked as part of a team, and probably hasn't had experience dealing with regressions. That's a red flag.
    - asjo 17y ago
      One of my favourite interview questions to ask is, what version control systems have you used. I always ask what the applicants favourite editor is. Not because they have to use The One True Editor, but because they definitely should have one they prefer (which implies "know"). Craftsmanship warrants knowing your tools.

Do it. A night or two spent on learning how to use git (and maybe setting up a remote repo) will save you tons of headaches later and produce lots of benefits almost immediately.

apotheon 17y ago

You beat me to it. I agree 100%. Learn to use version control as early as is reasonable. Hell, learn to use it for your personal document directory on your computer at home -- it's great for that, too. It's useful for more than just source code, especially if you want to work on the same stuff on multiple computers.

caseysoftware 17y ago
100% yes. I've never found myself thinking "I wish I didn't have that version from before that big last change" but I have thought the opposite.

tdavis 17y ago

In fact, a few months spent learning best-practices for programming in general (including version control, proper testing, automated deployment, isolated environments, etc.) will pay dividends later. Learn these things now (and apply them even where they aren't necessary, in order to build experience and comfort level) and within a year or two I can practically guarantee you'll be better than at least 90% of working programmers. There are so many life-altering tools available for developers now; far more than were available when I started programming. Unfortunately, the longer you build up bad (or simply inferior-to-current) programming practices, the harder it is to apply new, better techniques. Integrate them into your life now and you'll have a sturdy, solid foundation to build on.

yummyfajitas 17y ago
Quite right. Here is a tutorial covering some of the basic tools. http://software-carpentry.org/ http://software-carpentry.org/ I'd go so far as to say that every developer should know everything on this page, or at least some substitute (e.g. mercurial instead of svn, ruby or c instead of python).

pvg 17y ago

At the level of 25 line scripts, something like drop box provides about all the headache-prevention and benefits needed. Programming in the large involves a great deal of bookkeeping tasks, which, while important and valuable are about -3.7 on the fun scale. The tools for such tasks also tend to have impressively poor usability. If you've written a 25 line script, write a 100 line or 5000 line one. And have fun. You already understand the importance of versioning and having reliable backups. Assuming your goal is to become a programmer rather than a book-keeper, stick to the programming for now.

timwiseman 17y ago
Interesting thought, and you have good points. A 25 line script probably isn't worth the hassle of version control. The thing is that learning version control is well worth the hassle of version control for someone trying to become a programmer.
- gaius 17y ago
  Definitely. One of my favourite interview questions to ask is, what version control systems have you used. I don't really care if it's not what we use. But someone who can't talk fluently about whatever system probably hasn't worked on a large project, probably hasn't worked as part of a team, and probably hasn't had experience dealing with regressions. That's a red flag.
  - asjo 17y ago
    One of my favourite interview questions to ask is, what version control systems have you used. I always ask what the applicants favourite editor is. Not because they have to use The One True Editor, but because they definitely should have one they prefer (which implies "know"). Craftsmanship warrants knowing your tools.