Why Version Control Exists: The Pendrive Problem

Why Version Control Exists : The Pendrive Problem

Before tools like Git existed , developer stills wrote code - but how they managed it was painful.

Lets us study The Pendrive Analogy in Software Development first then we can understand Why Version Control Exists.

The Pendrive Analogy

Imagine a team working on the same project.

There is one pendrive that contains the project code.

• Developer A takes the pendrive , edits the code

• Then goes it to Developer B

• Then B gives it to Developer C

And so on ...
This was literally how many teams worked before version control.

Sometimes instead of pendrives :

• Code was sent via email

• or copied into folders like
  

project_final/
project_final_v2/
project_latest_final_really/

Sounds funny - but this was real life before Version Control.

Problem Faced Before VCS

1. Code Overwriting

if two developers edited the same file :

• The last copy wins , and the other work disappers

• No warning

• No merge

• Just lost code

2. No Change History

Question like :

• Who changed this file ?

• When was this line added ?

• Why was this logic removed ?

3. Lost Versions

If a pendrive :

• Got curropted

• Got lost

Then days of weeks of work vanished .

4. No Team Collaboration

• Only one person could work at a time

• Parallel development was risky

• Teams moved slowly and carefully ( out of fear )

Now scale this problem 😵‍💫

Why Version Control Became Mandatory

Version control systems solved all these problems by :

• Keeping every version of code safely

• Allowing multiple developers to work at the same time

• Track who changed what and when

• Making collaboration structured , not chaotic

Instead of passing pendrives , developers now sync changes , merge safely , and roll back anytime .

Pendrive

Version control

Thanks for reading ! if enjoyed this blog , you can read more on this 👇

Kunal Follow

My tokens expired idk how to write bio. 😪🫠