Version Control System

Simplest way to backup your source code is to store all files on your local machine's hard drive.

But this way has its own set of problems.

Problem#1 : Hard disk failure/ Accidental deletion of code/ Corrupted source code files

Code might get lost if some one accidently deletes the files or files get corrupted due to some unknown reasons.

 

Problem#2 : Multiple developers cannot work on same source code files easily.

If multiple developers working on same project or even same files then its very difficult to keep track of all their code changes and integration of such modified code is another challenge.

Problem#3 : Reverting back to older version of source code files is not easy.

If developer made some changes in source code and while testing it is found that software is failing then very quick solution is to revert/undo all changes and shift to older working version of source code.

Older version is not available since developer modified the existing copy so in such scenario its not practical to undo changes manually.    

Solution on all such problems is Version Control System (VCS).

Solution#1 : 

VCS software run on secure servers and hence maintain source code on cloud. I case of any code lost scenario (file deletion/ hard disk failure/ file corruption) the source code can be restored by copying it from servers to local machine.

Solution#2 :

VCS has software framework that maintains code versions and has tools/mechanism to merge code from all developers working on same source code from different local machines. Code integration problems will get resolved due to VCS.

Solution#3:

VCS has software frame work that maintains version history so reverting back to older working version of source code is very easy.

 

Version Control Systems examples: