In simple terms, version control is nothing but a system that keeps track of the changes made to source code or files. With a version control system, you can look back at the changes made to a particular file, either by you or another person, by accessing the version control database. This system gives you the ability to compare different versions of a file, thus allowing you to stay informed about the changes that have happened over a period of time.
The version control system can be referred to as a database that stores snapshots of different files in a project. These snapshots are taken every time a file is modified. It maintains all the records of the different versions of a file. In addition to comparing different versions of a file, VCSs also allows you to switch between them. VCSs can either be distributed or centralized. Let us see how these two types differ.
Centralized version control systems use a single, centralized server to store all the different versions of a file. Users can access these files by gaining access to this centralized server. Now, there is a disadvantage associated with this type of VCS. If the central server fails to function due to any reason, the entire history stored on its will be gone and no one will be able to recover any version/versions of the lost files.
Git is one of the most popular VCS, and I will discuss about Git in the next post.
Till then keep learning and keep sharing.
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