One of the most powerful tools we have as software developers is not a coding pattern, method, framework, or even really code at all. Like a bank keeps its most valuable assets in a safe, so do we as developers seek to protect our most valuable assets, the code we create.

Source control (referred to variously as source control management, version control, revision control, and probably a half dozen other terms as well) describes a system we use to store our code, manage changes to that code, and share our code with others. Our choice of a source control system is one of the single most important decisions we can make, and will radically affect how productive we are able to be.

In this article we will examine the rationale behind source control, and get a rundown of the different types of source control systems available, including examples of each still in widespread use today. After that we will discuss how to structure a solution to get the most out of our source control system, with an emphasis on .NET solutions. Lastly we will learn how to integrate a source control system with the software development lifecycle.

[Read more…]