Centralized vs. Distributed Version Control
Version control (VC) is a system that helps you track changes to your code over time. It allows you to revert to previous versions of your code, compare different versions, and collaborate with other developers.
There are two main types of version control: centralized and distributed.
Centralized version control (CVCS) stores all of your code in a single repository, which is typically hosted on a server. When you make changes to your code, you commit those changes to the repository. You can then revert to previous versions of your code by checking out a specific commit from the repository.
CVCS is easy to use and relatively straightforward to set up. However, it can be a bottleneck if multiple developers are working on the same project at the same time. This is because all of the changes have to be made through the central repository, which can slow down development.
Distributed version control (DVCS), on the other hand, stores a copy of your code on each developer's machine. This means that everyone can work on the same project at the same time without having to go through a central repository. DVCS is also more scalable than CVCS, as it can handle more concurrent users.
However, DVCS can be more complex to set up and use than CVCS. It is also important to have a good understanding of branching and merging, as these concepts are essential to DVCS.