My source control technologies of choice
Spoiler: Git, VS Code, BitBucket
Why Git?
Contrary to a pitch I heard many times Git is not easy! While it may be easy to follow a basic workflow it is very easy to get in trouble, but here are my reasons for using it:
- I already know it — I would still select it because of the reasons below if I didn’t
- Most adopted source control system — according to the StackOverflow 2017 survey
- Lots of resources — There are good tutorials and resources available
- Good tools — These tools can hide most of the complexities.
- Options for hosting the code online — There are a few options for services including free ones
Why the git CLI?
As part of my job not too long ago I had to learn a lot about git and its internals. So I am just comfortable with it even if many times I am just looking for how to use some commands in StackOverflow. I use it about 80% of the time. The other 20% going to VS Code.
Why VS Code?
I like the editor. It is simple, light weight, and has extensions for most of the things I care about. The Git integration is limited, but simple. I mostly use it to look at diffs, sometimes to stage files and commit.
Why BitBucket?
GitHub is the standard for hosting Git open source projects and it is what I use for open source projects. But for projects that I do not want the source code to be available to the public my choice is BitBucket from Atlassian. Here are my reasons:
- Free — It is free for up to 5 users. Most of my projects fall in that category. If I have to upgrade past 5 users the prices are reasonable too.
- Easy to move — This is not specific to BitBucket, but to Git. If you want to move your code later you can. You will only loose comments in the Pull Request.
- Has all the features I need — I haven’t looked into an exhaustive side-by-side comparison with other services like VSTS, GitHub, GitLab or others, but as long as you keep your workflows simple (which I am a big fan of) it works great.
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