Version control (also revision control, source control, source code management). It’s the first time I’ve ever the term, but I’m certainly not new to the concept. Many, many times I have created new versions of a document–particularly when designing–when I make even the smallest changes to the original, but don’t want to replace it. From what I’ve read, this is version control in it’s most basic form. With bigger projects and larger teams comes a greater need for organization, and that’s why there is version control software. It shouldn’t surprise you to find out that there seems to be different versions of version control: the distributed revision control (DRCS) of the peer-to-peer approach and the centralized system of the client-server approach. What this means, exactly, I’m still learning, but apparently programs such as CVS and Git will differ as a result of the different approaches.
So the question at hand is: do I need a version control system? At the moment, probably not. I’m the only one working on my projects, and it seems that a version control system is more needed with large teams and vast projects. Will I need it in the future? Possibly. If things grow to a much larger size and more people are incorporated, I might very well indeed need to introduce a version control system. So though the priority for the moment might be to simply get my site up and operational, I realize that I should keep my mind open to version control systems. And though fancy (geeky) it might sound, essentially it is all about organization and communication, which are essential to be big projects.
