[beauty of software engineering - column notes] 30 | make good use of source code management tools to make your collaboration more efficient

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Column information

1. Columnist ： The treasure jade

2. Column publishing platform ： Geek time

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primary coverage

Source code management tools are standard in software projects , Almost every software project will be applied to , It can be said to be the most basic project development tool .

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One 、 A brief history of source code management tools

Source code management tools are also called Version control system , It's a mechanism to save multiple versions of a file . Every time someone submits a modification , This modification history will be recorded by the version control system .

Source code management tools have existed since their birth 40 Years of history , Experienced Four stages .

1. The era without source code management tools

   We were not so lucky to develop software in the early years , stay 1972 Years ago, there was no tool that could help us do source code management .

2. Local version management

   The earliest version control system is SCCS（Source Code Control System）, Born in 1972 year , It realizes the retention of multiple versions of a single file , This means that you can see the modification history of each file .

   Then there was RCS （Revision Control System）

3. Centralized version management

   1986 Came out in CVS（Concurrent Versions System） It is the first to use a centralized server to manage the version Library .

   Later SVN（Subversion） On the other hand CVS A lot of optimization .

4. Distributed version management

   A typical representative of distributed version management tools is Git, Copies of the entire code base of the distributed version control system can be stored on the user's local system .

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Two 、 How to choose the right source code management system

Now there are many choices for source code management system , You can choose a code management service hosted online , Or build it yourself .

1. Build your own source code management system

   Git、GitLab、Gerrit etc.

2. Online code hosting platform

   GitHub、GitLab、Coding etc.

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3、 ... and 、 How to make good use of source code management tools ？

Make good use of source code management tools , There are three simple and feasible principles ：

1. Principle one ： Submit frequently
2. Principle two ： Run automated tests after each submission
3. Principle three ： The submitted code should be reviewed

• How to do a good job of code review ？

  My experience is that , When reviewing other people's code , First understand what problem the submitted code is going to solve , Imagine how you would write this code yourself .

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Four 、 What kind of development process should I choose ？

Now there are three main development processes based on source code management ：

1. Git flow
2. GitHub flow
3. GitLab flow

Let's take a specific look based on GitHub flow How it was developed .

1. First step ： Create a branch
2. The second step ： Submit update
3. The third step ： Create a Pull Request
4. Step four ： Discussion and code review
5. Five steps ： The deployment of test
6. Step six ： Merge

No matter what kind of development process you are based on , It's best to do these two things ：

1. There is a stable branch of code ;
2. Before merging branches , Review the code , Automated tests should be able to pass .

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5、 ... and 、 Other excerpts

• Submit frequently , It does not mean that incomplete content is submitted , Instead, split the content to be submitted , And ensure integrity .
• The advantage of self construction is that you can have more control , But you need to have your own server , Build your own environment , And subsequent maintenance .
• My suggestion is if the project is small , Privacy requirements are not high , There is no need to build it by yourself , You can directly choose the online hosting platform .
• If you want more control over source code management , It can also accept the investment in operation and maintenance , You can choose to build it yourself .

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summary

Source code management tools are also called Version control system , It's a mechanism to save multiple versions of a file , Historical versions of files can be recorded .

Make good use of source code management tools , Design the development process , Ensure good code quality , Your collaboration can be more efficient .