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diff --git a/.html/dev/why-scm.html b/.html/dev/why-scm.html deleted file mode 100644 index d278190..0000000 --- a/.html/dev/why-scm.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,147 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html> -<head> - <title> - The Codex » - Why we use SCM systems - </title> - - <link - rel='stylesheet' - type='text/css' - href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Buenard:400,700&subset=latin,latin-ext'> - <link - rel="stylesheet" - type="text/css" - href="../media/css/reset.css"> - <link - rel="stylesheet" - type="text/css" - href="../media/css/grimoire.css"> -</head> -<body> - -<div id="shell"> - - <ol id="breadcrumbs"> - - <li class="crumb-0 not-last"> - - <a href="../">index</a> - - </li> - - <li class="crumb-1 not-last"> - - <a href="./">dev</a> - - </li> - - <li class="crumb-2 last"> - - why-scm - - </li> - - </ol> - - - - <div id="article"> - <h1 id="why-we-use-scm-systems">Why we use SCM systems</h1> -<p>I'm watching a newly-minted co-op student dealing with her first encounter -with Git, unhelpfully shepherded by a developer to whom everything below is -already second nature, so deeply that the reasoning is hard to articulate. It -is not going well.</p> -<p>I have the same problem, and it could be me trying to give someone an intro to -Git off the top of my head, but it's not, today. For next time, here are my -thoughts. They have shockingly little to do with Git.</p> -<h2 id="assumptions">Assumptions</h2> -<ul> -<li>You're working on a software project.</li> -<li>You know how to read and write code.</li> -<li>You're human.</li> -<li>You have end users or customers - people other than yourself who care about - your code.</li> -<li>Your project is going to take more than a few minutes to reach end of life.</li> -</ul> -<h2 id="the-safety-net">The safety net</h2> -<p>Having a record of past states and known-good states means that, when (WHEN) -you write some code that doesn't work, and when (WHEN) you're stumped as to -why, you can throw your broken code away and get to a working state again. It -also helps with less-drastic solutions by letting you run comparisons between -your broken code and working code, which helps narrow down whatever problem -you've created for yourself.</p> -<p>(Aside: if you're in a shop that “doesn't use source control,” and for -whatever insane reason you haven't already run screaming, this safety net is a -good reason to use source control independently of the organization as a -whole. Go on, it's easy; modern DSCM tools like Mercurial or Git make -importing “external” trees pretty straightforward. Your future self thanks -you.)</p> -<h2 id="historical-record">Historical record</h2> -<p>Having a record of past, released states means you can go back later and -recover how your project has changed over time. Even if your commit practices -are terrible, when (WHEN) your users complain that something stopped working a -few months ago and they never bothered to mention it until now, you have some -chance of finding out what caused the problem. Better practices around <a href="commit-messages">commit -messages</a> and other workflow-related artifacts improve your -chances of finding out <em>why</em>, too.</p> -<h2 id="consensus">Consensus</h2> -<p>Every SCM system and every release process is designed to help the humans in -the loop agree on what, exactly, the software being released looks like and -whether or not various releasability criteria have been met. It doesn't matter -if you use rolling releases or carefully curate and tag every release after -months of discussion, you still need to be able to point to a specific version -of your project's source code and say “this will be our next release.”</p> -<p>SCM systems can help direct and contextualize that discussion by recording the -way your project has changed during those discussion, whether that's part of -development or a separate post-“freeze” release process.</p> -<h2 id="proposals-and-speculative-development">Proposals and speculative development</h2> -<p>Modern SCM systems (other than a handful of dismal early attempts) also help -you <em>propose</em> and <em>discuss</em> changes. Distributed source control systems make -this particularly easy, but even centralized systems can support workflows -that record speculative development in version control. The ability to discuss -specific changes and diffs, either within a speculative line of development or -between a proposed feature and the mainline code base, is incredibly powerful.</p> -<h2 id="the-bottom-line">The bottom line</h2> -<p>It's about the people, not the tools, stupid. Explaining how Git works to -someone who doesn't have a good grasp on the relationship between source -control tools and long-term, collaborative software development won't help.</p> - </div> - - - -<div id="comments"> -<div id="disqus_thread"></div> -<script type="text/javascript"> - /* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * */ - var disqus_shortname = 'grimoire'; // required: replace example with your forum shortname - - /* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */ - (function() { - var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true; - dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js'; - (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq); - })(); -</script> -<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a></noscript> -<a href="http://disqus.com" class="dsq-brlink">comments powered by <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span></a> -</div> - - - - <div id="footer"> - <p> - - The Codex — - - Powered by <a href="http://markdoc.org/">Markdoc</a>. - -<a href="https://bitbucket.org/ojacobson/grimoire.ca/src/master/wiki/dev/why-scm.md">See this page on Bitbucket</a> (<a href="https://bitbucket.org/ojacobson/grimoire.ca/history-node/master/wiki/dev/why-scm.md">history</a>). - - </p> - </div> - -</div> -</body> -</html>
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