Introduction to Version Control Systems

A version control system is a software tool that helps the developer team to make changes and track the codebase. The codebase is simply the source code collection that was used to build a particular system or application. Version control is important because it helps the developer team to manage changes made to the source code and keep record of who made the changes.

Types of Version Control Systems

- Local Version Control Systems
This system keeps track of files within your local computer. Any changes made to a particular file is stored as a patch and every patch set will only contain the changes made to the file since its last version.

- Centralized Version Control System
A single repository contains all the versioned files where developers can commit changes to files. this system allows for collaboration among developers however the repository is the single point of failure which can affect other developer's working on it.

- Distributed Version Control System
This system contains multiple repositories and each user has their own working copy.

** Benefits of Version Control**

1. Distributed version control systems enabled individuals from around the world to make contributions to projects remotely and make collaborations.

2. Ability to track changes made to software and connect it to software testing tools.

3. History logs of every file where when and who makes changes are tracked to enable future debugging of the system.

4. Users can have multiple backups locally therefore preventing loss of data in case of a system failure.

Best Version Control Systems

Although there are many systems in the marketplace, a few of them standout and are mostly used by developers. They include:

• GitHub
  Developers host their projects on this platform in repositories. They can easily track code changes and do rollbacks on app versions when necessary.

• GitLab
  It has continuous integration capabilities which you can use to perform automatic tests and deliver code.

• Perfoce
  it has a system known as HelixCore which comes with a single platform for seamless team collaboration, and support for both centralized and distributed development workflows.

• BeanStalk
  This software is ideal for remote workers as it is based on browser and cloud, allowing users to code, commit, and deploy on the browser.